Data structure generation and price range symbol display system, method, and device

ABSTRACT

A method for generating a data structure, the data structure being used to generate an HLC or OHLC type symbol, the method includes receiving a plurality of prices, each price corresponding to a unique time within a time period, determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open price corresponding to a start of the time period, a highest price corresponding to a first time within the time period, a lowest price corresponding to a second time within the time period, and a close price corresponding to an end of the time period, calculating a highest symbol position value indicating when the first time occurred between the start of the time period and the end of the time period, calculating a lowest symbol position value indicating when the second time occurred between the start of the time period and the end of the time period, and storing the time period, the open price, the highest price, the lowest price, the close price, the highest symbol position value, and the lowest symbol position value in association with one another in the data structure on a non-transitory computer readable medium.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/342,573, filed Jun. 9, 2021, which is a continuation in partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/338,260, filed Jun. 3, 2021,which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/937,949, filed Jul. 24, 2020, which is a continuation in part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/935,084, filed Jul. 21, 2020, which is acontinuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/932,345,filed Jul. 17, 2020, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/790,512, filed Feb. 13, 2020, each of which areincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to a computer implemented chartingmethod and more specifically relates to a system, method, and device forgenerating and displaying enhanced price bar type charts representativeof a price range of a market traded security during a time period.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A bar chart also known as a OHLC (Open, High, Low, Close) chart is acollection of price bars, with each bar showing the price movements fora given time period. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-A, each bar has avertical line 110 that shows the highest price 114 and the lowest price118 reached during the time period. The opening price 122 is marked by atick mark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line110, and the closing price 126 is marked by a tick mark of a smallhorizontal line on the right of the vertical line 110. A bar chartvariation might only display a HLC (High, Low, Close) chart includingHLC bars that omit the opening price 122 and does not include the tickmark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line 110.Bar charts are very similar to Japanese candlestick charts. The twochart types show the same information but in different ways.Candlesticks also have a vertical line showing the high and low of theperiod, but the difference between the open and close is represented bya thicker portion called a body. Neither of these charts show morespecific information as to when the high price and low price occurredduring that given time period nor do these charts even indicate which ofa high price and low price came first.

Since the latter part of the nineteenth century far-eastern traders haveused candlesticks for charting markets and for analysis based on trendsin market psychology. Candlestick patterns are now commonly used intechnical analysis to describe price movements of securities (e.g.,stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, etc.), derivatives (e.g., options,forwards, futures, swaps, etc.), indices, or currencies over time. Asshown in prior art of FIG. 1-B, the candlestick consists of arectangular body 130, the height of which represents the differencebetween a time period's open price 134 and close price 138. A centerlineprojecting from the top of the rectangle extends upward to the period'shigh price 142 is known as an upper wick 146 whereas a similarcenterline extends from the bottom to the period's low price 150 isknown as a lower wick 154. When the closing trade price 138 is higherthan its opening trade price 134, the body 130 of the up or bullishcandlestick is filled with usually a white or green color. As shown inprior art of FIG. 1-C, as the opening trade price 134 is higher than itsclosing trade price 138, the body of the down or bearish candlestick isfilled 158 with usually a black or red color.

The length of the candlestick varies with the price difference. When theprice ranges between the opening trade price and the closing trade priceincrease, the body will be lengthened. Likewise, the upper or lower wickwill be lengthened due to the highest or lowest trade price,respectively. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-D, candlestick patternshave emerged due to the variety of sizes of both body and wicks. To namea few, a bullish Marubozu 160 and bearish Marubozu 165 have no wickswhich occur when the highs and the lows also represent the opening andthe closing prices and is considered a continuation pattern. A HangingMan 170 can be a black or a white candlestick that consists of a smallbody near the high with a little or no upper wick and a long lower wick.The lower wick should be two or three times the height of the body andis considered a bearish pattern during an uptrend. Similarly, a ShootingStar 175 can be a black or a white candlestick that has a small body, along upper wick and a little or no lower wick and is considered abearish pattern in an uptrend.

A Dragonfly Doji 180 is formed when the opening and the closing pricesare at the highest of the day. If it has a longer lower wick it signalsa more bullish trend. When appearing at market bottoms it is consideredto be a reversal signal and a Gravestone Doji 185 is formed when theopening and closing prices are at the lowest of the day. If it has alonger upper wick it signals a bearish trend. When it appears at markettop it is considered a reversal signal. Lastly, a Long-Legged Doji 190consists of a Doji with very long upper and lower wicks indicatingstrong forces balanced in opposition and possible market indecision.Nearly all candlestick patterns fall into three broad categories, namelybull, bear, and doji categories. There can be a price gap betweenadjacent candlesticks which occurs when the high and low price range ofthe first candlestick does not overlap with the high and low price ofthe second candlestick.

Both price bars and candlestick wicks are displayed along a centerlineof a vertical axis to show the high and low price range of a given timeperiod and does not offer more specific information as to when the highprice and low price occurred during that given time period. Although animprovement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,844,487 issued on Nov. 30,2010 by Chapman, entitled, “Computer-implemented method for displayingprice and value extremes” by adding angled tips to the top and bottom ofa price bar to serve as additional visual indicators that show which ofthe high price and low price came first, such teaching relies on addingadditional graphical information and remains silent on displaying moreprecisely when the high price and low price had occurred in a given timeperiod.

U.S. Patent Application 20040267654 filed on Jun. 26, 2003 by Peng, etal., entitled, “Candlestick and bar charts” similarly discloses theaddition of new graphical elements in the form of one or more dottedhorizontal lines that yield more information as to price direction nearthe open and/or close price but is silent as to offering any newinformation regarding when either the high and low price occurred.

To date, all known charting programs from trading software, banks,brokers, independents, and third parties similarly dynamically update acurrent candlestick for display in a candlestick chart during pricechanges throughout a given time period of the candlestick by renderingand displaying the same full fixed width of the candlestick whileupdating the height of the body and wicks along the centerline accordingto each price change leaving a user without any sense of when the timeperiod ends and left waiting to only then view the final candlestickupon learning of the close price for that time period. Analogously, thesame holds true for OHLC and HLC price bars where the vertical linedepicting the high price and low price remains though changing in heightremains static in the same vertical position throughout the time period.The speculative reason for this is that it appears all charting enginesand modules are configured to receive market data in the form of OHLCdata which does not specify when the high price or low price hasoccurred during the time period.

Prior art candlesticks are inaccurately drawn due to chart librariescoded to draw a single high price-low price vertical line and then drawa candle body symmetrically atop of the vertical line. The art is silentregarding drawing separate vertical lines to create a separate upperwick and lower wick. Further, the time axis label indicating the startof a time period is inaccurately drawn directly under the high price-lowprice vertical line. The drawing of the vertical line is indicative oftreating it is a single wick, which has set the stage for decades now ofdevelopers, users, and the public at large to fail to even recognizethat there are much more visually accurate ways to visually representthe reality of price fluctuations during a given time period.

Accordingly, in light of the above, there is a strong need in the artfor systems, methods, and devices to overcome this lack of more specificinformation and provide a user with more timely and more visuallyaccurate charting information during a given time period.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention enables more specific information to help a userunderstand more clearly when a high price and low price occurred duringa time period without adding any additional visual indicators. Thepresent invention provides a widening body of a candlestick proportionalto the percentage of traversal of the time period. The present inventionenables for the replacement of conventional candlesticks with enhancedcandlesticks. The present invention enables enhanced OHLC data to assista user with research, analysis, and back-testing with historical data tovisualize enhanced candlestick chart data over longer time periods ofyears or even decades. The present invention provides enhanced OHLC andHLC bar charts that include a separate upper price bar and lower pricebar instead of a conventional centerline high-low price bar and furtherinclude an open-close bar and close bar respectively that can widenproportional to the percentage of traversal of the time period. Thepresent invention provides a tilting of a centerline high-low price barof a candlestick or OHLC bar to determine whether the high price or lowprice occurred first in the time period as well of the tilting orshifting of either upper and lower wicks or upper and lower price barsas alternate ways to visually depict such distinction without relyingupon the overlaying of any graphical elements or other visualindicators. The present invention enables for generation of newalternate OHLC type price symbols such as the two intersecting linessymbol that represents the intersection of an open-close price line anda high-low price line or a quadrilateral drawn with the open price, highprice, low price, close price as vertices.

The present invention provides a candlestick having multiple upper wicksand multiple lower wicks connected to a candle body that can begenerated and displayed. The present invention provides a demarcationindicator that enables a user to visually see what portion of thecurrent time period has lapsed and how much time in the current timeperiod remains. The present invention enables the magnification ofsymbol width of a current or recent symbol so that older symbols remainsmaller thereby increasing the number of symbols displayed on a screen,which is helpful on mobile and smartphone devices. The present inventionenables a user to select an intra-time period resolution value whichincreases accuracy of approximate upper and lower wick positions along asymbol body.

In general, in accordance with the present invention acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a candlestickrepresentative of a price range during at least a portion of a timeperiod that includes a plurality of intra-time periods, the methodincludes receiving a OHLC (open, high, low, close) data of a firstintra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods and a OHLC dataof a second intra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods, acharting engine generating a candle body from an open price of the firstintra-time period and a close price of the second intra-time period,determining a highest intra-time period having a highest price from eachhigh price of each of the first and second intra-time periods and alowest intra-time period having a lowest price from each low price ofeach of the first and second intra-time periods, the charting enginegenerating at least one of an upper wick and lower wick, a bottom of theupper wick being connected to a top of the candle body above thedetermined highest intra-time period and a top of the lower wick beingconnected to a bottom of the candle body below the determined lowestintra-time period, and the charting engine displaying the candlestickincluding the candle body and the at least one of the upper wick andlower wick, where the candlestick visually depicts and enables the userto see relative to a width of the candle body, the respective times whenthe highest price and the lowest price have occurred during the at leasta portion of the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a HLC (high, low,close) symbol representative of a price range during at least a portionof a time period including a plurality of intra-time periods, the methodincludes receiving a HLC data of a first intra-time period of aplurality of intra-time periods and a HLC data of a second intra-timeperiod of a plurality of intra-time periods, a charting enginegenerating a horizontal close price bar at a close price of the secondintra-time period, the close price bar spanning across the firstintra-time period and the second intra-time period, determining ahighest intra-time period having a highest price from each high price ofeach of the first and second intra-time periods and determining a lowestintra-time period having a lowest price from each low price of each ofthe first and second intra-time periods, the charting engine generatingat least one of an upper price bar and lower price bar, a bottom of theupper price bar being connected to a top of the close price bar abovethe highest intra-time period and a top of the lower price bar beingconnected to a bottom of the close price bar below the lowest intra-timeperiod, and the charting engine displaying the HLC symbol which includesthe close price bar and the at least one of the upper price bar andlower price bar, where the HLC symbol visually depicts and enables theuser to see relative to a width of the close bar, the respective timeswhen the highest price and the lowest price have occurred during the atleast a portion of the time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high,low, close) symbol representative of a price range during at least aportion of a time period including a plurality of intra-time periods,the method includes receiving a OHLC data of a first intra-time periodof a plurality of intra-time periods and a OHLC data of a secondintra-time period of a plurality of intra-time periods, a chartingengine generating an open-close price bar drawn from an open price ofthe first intra-time period and a close price of the second intra-timeperiod, determining a highest intra-time period having a highest pricefrom each high price of each of the first and second intra-time periodsand a lowest intra-time period having a lowest price from each low priceof each of the first and second intra-time periods, the charting enginegenerating at least one of an upper price bar and lower price bar, abottom of the upper price bar being connected to a top of the open-closeprice bar above the determined highest intra-time period and a top ofthe lower price bar being connected to a bottom of the open-close pricebar below the determined lowest intra-time period, and the chartingengine displaying the OHLC symbol including the open-close price bar andthe at least one of the upper price bar and lower price bar, where theOHLC symbol visually depicts and enables the user to see relative to awidth of the open-close bar, the respective times when the highest priceand the lowest price have occurred during the at least a portion of thetime period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high,low, close) price symbol representative of a price range during a timeperiod, the method includes generating the OHLC price symbol as aquadrilateral including a first vertex representative of an open priceat a start of the time period, a second vertex representative of a highprice at a first time during the time period, a third vertexrepresentative of a low price at a second time during the time period,and a fourth vertex representative of a close price at an end of thetime period, and displaying the OHLC price symbol to the user.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a HLC (high, low,close) price symbol representative of a price range during a timeperiod, the method includes generating the HLC price symbol as atriangle including a first vertex representative of a high price at afirst time during the time period, a second vertex of a low price at asecond time during the time period, and a third vertex representative ofa close price at an end of the time period, and displaying the HLC pricesymbol to the user.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high,low, close) bar representative of a price range during a time periodincludes a charting engine generating and displaying an open-close priceline drawn from an open price to a close price of the time period andthe charting engine generating and displaying a high-low price lineintersecting the open-close price line wherein the high-low price lineis drawn from a high price at a first time during the time period to alow price at a second time during the time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high,low, close) bar representative of a price range during a time periodincludes determining whether a low price during the time period occurredbefore a high price during the time period, a charting engine generatingand displaying (1) an open-high price line drawn from an open price at astart of the time period to a high price at a first time of the timeperiod, (2) a high-low price line drawn from the high price at the firsttime during the time period to a low price at a second time during thetime period, and a low-close price line drawn from the low price at thesecond time during the time period to the close price at an end of thetime period when determining that the low price occurred after the highprice, and the charting engine generating and displaying an (1) open-lowprice line drawn from the open price at the start of the time period tothe low price at the second time of the time period, (2) a low-highprice line drawn from the low price at the second time during the timeperiod to the high price at the first time during the time period, and a(3) high-close price line drawn from the high price at the first timeduring the time period to the close price at the end of the time periodwhen determining that the low price occurred before the high price.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user an OHLC (open,high, low, close) bar representative of a price range during a timeperiod includes determining whether a low price during the time periodoccurred before the high price during the time period, a charting enginegenerating and displaying (1) an open price line drawn horizontally froman open price at a start of the time period to perpendicularly connectwith a bottom of a vertically drawn high price line of a high price at afirst time of the time period and (2) a close price line drawnhorizontally from a close price at an end of the time period toperpendicularly connect with a top of a vertically drawn low price lineof a low price at a second time of the time period, when determiningthat the low price occurred after the high price, and the chartingengine generating and displaying (1) the open price line drawnhorizontally from the open price at the start of the time period toperpendicularly connect with a top of a vertically drawn low price lineof the low price at the second time of the time period and (2) the closeprice line drawn horizontally from the close price at the end of thetime period to perpendicularly connect with a bottom of a verticallydrawn high price line of the high price at the first time of the timeperiod, when determining that the low price occurred before the highprice.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user a price range of amarket traded asset during a time period, the method includes a chartingengine displaying a price bar, the price bar having a widthrepresentative of the time period, generating an upper price bar andlower price bar, the upper price bar having a height representative of ahighest price occurring at a first time during the time period and thelower price bar having a height representative of a lowest priceoccurring at a second time during the time period, connecting a bottomof the upper price bar to a top of the price bar at a first connectionpoint, the first connection point dividing the top of the price bar intoa first top part and a second top part where a ratio between the firsttop part and the top of the price bar corresponds to a ratio between thefirst time and the time period and connecting a top of the lower pricebar to a bottom of the price bar at a second connection point, thesecond connection point dividing the bottom of the price bar into afirst bottom part and a second bottom part where a ratio between thefirst bottom part and the bottom of the price bar corresponds to a ratiobetween the second time and the time period, and the charting enginedisplaying the price bar, the upper price bar, and the lower price bar,which visually depict and enable the user to see relative to the pricebar, respective times when the highest price and the lowest price haveoccurred during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, a HLC (high, low,close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded assetduring a time period including a plurality of intra-time periods, themethod includes a charting engine displaying a first vertical linehaving a height representative of a difference between a first highprice and a first low price, determined from HLC data of a firstintra-time period having a first close price, the charting enginedisplaying a second vertical line adjacent to the first vertical line,the second vertical line having a height representative of a differencebetween a second high price and a second low price, determined from HLCdata of a second intra-time period having a second close price,determining a highest intra-time period having a highest price fromamong each high price of each of the plurality of intra-time periods anddetermining a lowest intra-time period having a lowest price from amongeach low price of each of the plurality of intra-time periods,generating the HLC bar including a horizontal close bar and an upper barand lower bar by removing all portions of all vertical lines above andbelow the second close price from all intra-time periods other thanabove the second close price of the determined highest intra-time periodand below the second close price of the determined lowest intra-timeperiod, and the charting engine displaying the generated HLC bar,wherein the generated HLC bar visually depicts and enables the user tosee relative to the horizontal close bar, respective times when thehighest price and the lowest price have occurred during the time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, an OHLC (open,high, low, close) bar representative of a price range during a timeperiod including a plurality of intra-time periods, the method includesa charting engine displaying a first vertical line having a heightrepresentative of a difference between a first high price and first lowprice, determined from an OHLC (open, high, low, close) data of a firstintra-time period, the charting engine displaying a second vertical lineadjacent to the first vertical line, the second vertical line having aheight representative of a difference between a second high price andsecond low price, determined from an OHLC data of a second intra-timeperiod having a close price, determining a highest intra-time periodhaving a highest price from each high price of each of the first andsecond intra-time periods and determining a lowest intra-time periodhaving a lowest price from each low price of each of the first andsecond intra-time periods, generating an open-close line from an openprice of the time period and the close price of the second intra-timeperiod, and the charting engine generating and displaying the OHLC barby displaying the open-close line overlayed upon the first vertical lineand the second vertical line and generating at least one of an upper barand lower bar by removing all portions of all vertical lines above andbelow the open-close line from all of the plurality of intra-timeperiods other than above the open-close line of the determined highestintra-time period and below the open-close line of the determined lowestintra-time period, wherein the OHLC bar visually depicts and enables theuser to see relative to the open-close line, respective times when theupper bar and the lower bar have occurred during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying a candlestick representativeof a price range of a market traded security during a time period havinga plurality of intra-time periods includes a charting engine displayinga first vertical line having a height representative of a range betweena first high price and first low price from a OHLC data of a firstintra-time period, the charting engine displaying a second vertical lineadjacent to the first vertical line, the second vertical line having aheight representative of a range between a second high price and secondlow price from a OHLC data of a second intra-time period, generating abody from an open price of the time period and a close price of thesecond intra-time period, determining a highest intra-time period havinga highest price from each high price of each intra-time period and alowest intra-time period having a lowest price from each low price ofeach intra-time period, and the charting engine generating anddisplaying the candlestick by displaying the body overlayed upon thefirst vertical line and the second vertical line and generating at leastone of an upper wick and lower wick by removing all portions of allvertical lines outside of the body from all intra-time periods otherthan above the body from the highest intra-time period and below thebody of the lowest intra-time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying a candlestick representative of aprice range of a market traded security during a time period includescalculating a size of a body of the candlestick, the body having a widthand height where the width is representative of the time period and theheight is representative of a range between an open price and a closeprice during the time period, calculating a size of at least one of anupper wick and lower wick of the candlestick, the upper wick having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a height representative of a low priceat a second time during the time period, a charting engine generatingthe candlestick by connecting a bottom of the upper wick substantiallyperpendicular to a top of the body, the connection dividing the top ofthe body into a first top part and a second top part where the ratiobetween the first top part and the top of the body corresponds to theratio between the first time and the time period and connecting a top ofthe lower wick substantially perpendicular to a bottom of the body, theconnection dividing the bottom of the body into a first bottom part anda second bottom part where the ratio between the first bottom part andthe bottom of the body corresponds to the ratio between the second timeand the time period, and displaying the candlestick.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method includes modifying a display of acandlestick representative of a price range of a market traded securityduring a time period where the candlestick includes a body and at leastone of an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width and heightwhere the width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period, the upper wick having an upper center line projectingfrom a top of the body having a height representative of a high price ata first time during the time period and the lower wick having a lowercenter line projecting from a bottom of the body having a heightrepresentative of a low price at a second time during the time period,the method includes by a charting engine generating a modifiedcandlestick by moving the upper wick from the centerline to a connectionpoint substantially perpendicular to the top of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the top of the body into a first top part and a secondtop part where the ratio between the first top part and the top of thebody corresponds to the ratio between the first time and the time periodand moving the lower wick from the centerline to a connection pointsubstantially perpendicular to the bottom of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the bottom of the body into a first bottom part and asecond bottom part where the ratio between the first bottom part and thebottom of the body corresponds to the ratio between the second time andthe time period, and the charting engine displaying the modifiedcandlestick.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a cornputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, a display of amodified candlestick representative of a price range during a timeperiod wherein a candlestick includes a body and at least one of anupper wick and lower wick, the body having a width and height whereinthe width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a difference between an open price and a close priceduring the time period, the upper wick having an upper center lineprojecting from a top of the body having a height representative of ahigh price at a first time during the time period and the lower wickhaving a lower center line projecting from a bottom of the body having aheight representative of a low price at a second time during the timeperiod, the method includes determining whether the low price occurredbefore the high price during the time period, a charting enginegenerating the modified candlestick by one of a (1) at least one of amoving the upper wick to a right of the upper center line to aconnection point substantially perpendicular to the top of the body andmoving the lower wick to a left of the lower center line to a connectionpoint substantially perpendicular to the bottom of the body whendetermining that the low price occurred before the high price, and (2)at least one of moving the upper wick to the left of the upper centerline to a connection point substantially perpendicular to the top of thebody and moving the lower wick to the right of the lower center line toa connection point substantially perpendicular to the bottom of the bodywhen determining that the low price occurred after the high price, andthe charting engine displaying the modified candlestick, which visuallydepicts to the user whether the low price occurred before or after thehigh price during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, a display of amodified candlestick representative of a price range of a market tradedasset during a time period wherein the candlestick includes a body andat least one of an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a widthand height wherein the width is representative of the time period andthe height is representative of a difference between an open price and aclose price during the time period, the upper wick having an uppercenter line projecting from a top of the body having a heightrepresentative of a high price at a first time during the time periodand the lower wick having a lower center line projecting from a bottomof the body having a height representative of a low price at a secondtime during the time period, the method includes determining whether thelow price occurred before the high price during the time period, acharting engine generating the modified candlestick by one of (1) atleast one of tilting a top of the upper wick clockwise from a pivot onthe upper center line and tilting a bottom of the lower wick clockwisefrom a pivot on the lower center line, when determining that the lowprice occurred before the high price, and (2) at least one of a tiltinga top of the upper wick counter-clockwise from the pivot on the uppercenter line and tilting a bottom of the lower wick counter-clockwisefrom a pivot on the lower center line when determining that the lowprice occurred after the high price, and the charting engine displayingthe modified candlestick, which visually depicts to the user whether thelow price occurred before or after the high price during the timeperiod.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, a display of amodified OHLC price bar representative of a price range during a timeperiod wherein an OHLC price bar includes a vertical price bar having acenter point and a height representative of a difference between a highprice and low price during the time period, the method includesdetermining whether the low price occurred before the high price duringthe time period, a charting engine generating the modified OHLC pricebar by one of (1) tilting the vertical price bar clockwise from thecenter point of the vertical price bar, when determining that the lowprice occurred before the high price and (2) tilting the vertical pricebar counter-clockwise from the center-point of the vertical price bar,when determining that the low price occurred after the high price, andthe charting engine displaying the modified OHLC price bar, whichvisually depicts to the user, whether the low price occurred before orafter the high price during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying, to a user, a symbol representative of changes in a price ofan asset during a time period, the method includes receiving a pluralityof prices, each price occurring at a different corresponding time,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open priceoccurring at an initial time and a last price occurring at a last time,the time period extending from the initial time to the last time,determining, from the received plurality of prices, a highest priceoccurring at a first time within the time period and a lowest priceoccurring at a second time within the time period, generating, by acharting engine, a symbol, based on the open price, the last price, thehighest price, and the lowest price, and displaying, by the chartingengine, the symbol, which includes a first indicator indicating thefirst time corresponding to the highest price and a second indicatorindicating the second time corresponding to the lowest price.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying, to a user, a symbol representative of changes in a price ofan asset during a time period, the method includes receiving a pluralityof prices, each price occurring at a different corresponding time,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open priceoccurring at an initial time and a last price occurring at a last time,the time period extending from the initial time to the last time,determining, from the received plurality of prices, a highest priceoccurring at a first time within the time period and a lowest priceoccurring at a second time within the time period, generating, by acharting engine, a candle body from the open price and the last price,wherein a height of the candle body indicates a difference between theopen price and the last price, and a width of the candle body indicatesa difference between the last time and the initial time, generating, bythe charting engine, an upper wick and a lower wick based on the openprice, the last price, the highest price, and the lowest price, anddisplaying, by the charting engine, the symbol, which includes thecandle body, the upper wick, and the lower wick, wherein the upper wickextends from an upper surface of the candle body at a first pointcorresponding to the first time and the lower wick extends from a lowersurface of the candle body at a second point corresponding to the secondtime.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying, to a user, a symbol representative of changes in a price ofan asset during a time period, the method includes receiving a pluralityof prices, each price occurring at a different corresponding time,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open priceoccurring at an initial time and a last price occurring at a last time,the time period extending from the initial time to the last time,determining, from the received plurality of prices, a highest priceoccurring at a particular time within the time period, generating, by acharting engine, a candle body from the open price and the last price,wherein a height of the candle body indicates a difference between theopen price and the last price, and a width of the candle body indicatesa difference between the last time and the initial time, generating, bythe charting engine, an upper wick based on the open price, the lastprice, and the highest price, and displaying, by the charting engine,the symbol, which includes the candle body and the upper wick, whereinthe upper wick extends from an upper surface of the candle body at aparticular point corresponding to the particular time.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying, to a user, a symbol representative of changes in a price ofan asset during a time period, the method includes receiving a pluralityof prices, each price occurring at a different corresponding time,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open priceoccurring at an initial time and a last price occurring at a last time,the time period extending from the initial time to the last time,determining, from the received plurality of prices, a lowest priceoccurring at a particular time within the time period, generating, by acharting engine, a candle body from the open price and the last price,wherein a height of the candle body indicates a difference between theopen price and the last price, and a width of the candle body indicatesa difference between the last time and the initial time, generating, bythe charting engine, a lower wick based on the open price, the lastprice, and the lowest price, and displaying, by the charting engine, thesymbol, which includes the candle body and the lower wick, the lowerwick extends from a lower surface of the candle body at a particularpoint corresponding to the particular time.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying, to a user, a symbol representative of changes in a price ofan asset during a time period, the method includes receiving, for eachintra-time period of a plurality of intra-time periods in the timeperiod, intra-time price data including an intra-time open price, anintra-time high price, an intra-time low price, and an intra-time closeprice corresponding to the intra-time period, determining, from thereceived intra-time price data for the plurality of intra-time periods,an open price, which is an intra-time open price of an initialintra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods, determining,from the received intra-time price data for the plurality of intra-timeperiods, a close price, which is an intra-time close price of a lastintra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods, determining,from the intra-time high price of each of the plurality of intra-timeperiods, a highest price occurring within a first intra-time period ofthe plurality of intra-time periods, determining, from the intra-timelow price of each of the plurality of intra-time periods, a lowest priceoccurring within a second intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods, generating, by a charting engine, a candle body fromthe open price and the close price, wherein a height of the candle bodyindicates a difference between the open price and the close price, and awidth of the candle body indicates a difference between a start time ofthe time period and an end time of the time period, generating, by thecharting engine, an upper wick and a lower wick based on the open price,the close price, the highest price, and the lowest price, anddisplaying, by the charting engine, the symbol, which includes thecandle body, the upper wick, and the lower wick, wherein the upper wickextends from an upper surface of the candle body at a first pointcorresponding to the first intra-time period and the lower wick extendsfrom a lower surface of the candle body at a second point correspondingto the second intra-time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying a candlestick type symbolrepresentative of a price range during a time period wherein an openprice occurred at a start of the time period, a highest price occurredat a first time within the time period, and a lowest price occurred at asecond time within the time period, the method includes receiving asecond-most highest price that occurred at a third time within the timeperiod and a second-least lowest price that occurred at a fourth timewithin the time period wherein the second-most highest price is lowerthan the highest price and the second-least lowest price is higher thanthe lowest price, receiving a last price that occurred at a fifth timewithin the time period, wherein the last price is lower than thesecond-most highest price and higher than the second-least lowest price,determining whether the last price is greater than or less than the openprice, generating, by a charting engine, a candle body from the openprice and the last price, wherein a height of the candle body indicatesa difference between the open price and the last price and a width ofthe candle body indicates a difference between the start of the timeperiod and the fifth time within the time period, generating, by thecharting engine, a plurality of upper wicks and a plurality of lowerwicks, including a first upper wick having a height that indicates adifference between the highest price and the last price, a first lowerwick having a height that indicates a difference between the lowestprice and the open price, a second upper wick having a height thatindicates a difference between the second-most highest price and thelast price, and a second lower wick having a height that indicates adifference between the second-least lowest price and the open price, inresponse to determining that the last price is greater than the openprice, generating, by the charting engine, the plurality of upper wicksand the plurality of lower wicks, including the first upper wick havinga height that indicates a difference between the highest price and theopen price, the first lower wick having a height that indicates adifference between the lowest price and the last price, the second upperwick having a height that indicates a difference between the second-mosthighest price and the open price, and the second lower wick having aheight that indicates a difference between the second-least lowest priceand the last price, in response to determining that the last price isless than the open price, and displaying, by the charting engine, acandlestick type symbol, which includes the candle body, the pluralityof the upper wicks, and the plurality of lower wicks.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, acomputer-implemented method for displaying a candlestick representativeof a price range during a time period that includes a plurality ofintra-time periods, the method includes receiving OHLC (open, high, low,close) data for each intra-time period of the plurality of intra-timeperiods, generating, by a charting engine, a candle body from an openprice of a first intra-time period of the plurality of intra-timeperiods to a close price of a last intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods, based on the received OHLC data, determining allupper wick intra-time periods from which intra-time periods of theplurality of intra-time periods have an intra-time high price greaterthan the open price of the first intra-time period and greater than theclose price of the last intra-time period, determining all lower wickintra-time periods from which intra-time periods of the plurality ofintra-time periods have an intra-time low price lower than the openprice of the first intra-time period and lower than the close price ofthe last intra-time period, generating, by the charting engine, an upperwick for each upper wick intra-time period and a lower wick for eachlower wick intra-time period, a bottom of each upper wick beingconnected to a top of the candle body within each upper wick intra-timeperiod, and a top of each lower wick being connected to a bottom of thecandle body within each lower wick intra-time period, and displaying, bythe charting engine, the candlestick including the candle body and atleast one of the generated upper wicks and the generated lower wicks.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying an HLL (high, low, last) type symbol representative ofchanges in price during a time period in which a highest price occurredat a first time within the time period, a lowest price occurred at asecond time within the time period, a last price occurred at a thirdtime within the time period, and the third time occurred before an endof the time period, the method includes generating, by a chartingengine, a demarcation indicator and the HLL type symbol by drawing aspatiotemporal relationship between the highest price, the lowest price,and the last price in accordance with a selected symbol renderingmethod, wherein a width of the HLL type symbol indicates a differencebetween the third time and an earlier of when the highest price occurredand when the lowest price occurred, and displaying, by the chartingengine, the generated HLL type symbol and displaying the generateddemarcation indicator adjacent to the right of the generated HLL typesymbol, the demarcation indicator positioned at the end time of the timeperiod wherein a width between a right most surface of the HLL typesymbol and the demarcation indicator is a difference between the thirdtime and the end of the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying a plurality of OHLC type symbols, each symbol having a priortime period of equal duration and a current OHLL (open, high, low, last)type symbol representative of changes in price during a current timeperiod of equal duration to the prior time period in which an open priceoccurred at a start of the current time period, a highest price occurredat a first time within the current time period, a lowest price occurredat a second time within the current time period, and a last priceoccurred at a third time within the current time period, the methodincludes generating and displaying, by a charting engine, a firstportion of the OHLC type symbols, which have a first fixed widthcorresponding to the prior time period, and generating and displaying asecond portion of the OHLC type symbols, which have a second fixed widthcorresponding to the prior time period, wherein the second fixed widthis wider than the first fixed width, generating, by the charting engine,the current OHLL type symbol by drawing a spatiotemporal relationshipbetween the open price, the highest price, the lowest price, and thelast price in accordance with a selected symbol rendering method,wherein a height of the current OHLL symbol indicates a differencebetween the highest price and the lowest price and a width of thecurrent OHLL symbol indicates a difference between the start of thecurrent time period and the third time, and a difference between thestart of the current time period and an end of the current time periodis equal to the second fixed width, and displaying, by the chartingengine, the generated current OHLL type symbol adjacent to the pluralityof displayed OHLC type symbols.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying an OHLL (open, high, low, last) type symbol representative ofchanges in price during a time period in which an open price occurred ata start of the time period, a highest price occurred at a first timewithin the time period, a lowest price occurred at a second time withinthe time period, a last price occurred at a third time within the timeperiod and the third time occurred before an end of the time period, themethod includes generating, by a charting engine, the OHLL type symbolby drawing a spatiotemporal relationship between the open price, thehighest price, the lowest price, and the last price in accordance with aselected symbol rendering method, wherein a height of the OHLL typesymbol indicates a difference between the highest price and the lowestprice, a width of the OHLL type symbol indicates a difference betweenthe start of the time period and the third time, a width between thehighest price and the lowest price indicates a difference between thefirst time and the second time, and displaying, by the charting engine,the generated OHLL type symbol.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying an HLL (high, low, last) type symbol representative ofchanges in price during a time period in which a highest price occurredat a first time within the time period, and a lowest price occurred at asecond time within the time period, the method includes receiving a lastprice corresponding to a third time within the time period wherein it isdetermined that the received last price is lower than the highest priceand higher than the lowest price and the third time occurred before anend of the time period, in response to determining that the receivedlast price is lower than the highest price and higher than the lowestprice, generating, by a charting engine, the HLL type symbol by drawinga spatiotemporal relationship between the highest price, the lowestprice, and the last price in accordance with a selected symbol renderingmethod, wherein a height of the HLL type symbol indicates a differencebetween the highest price and the lowest price, a width of the HLL typesymbol indicates a difference between the third time and an earlier ofthe first time and the second time, and a width between the highestprice and the lowest price indicates a difference between the first timeand the second time, and displaying, by the charting engine, thegenerated HLL type symbol.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying an HLL (high, low, last) type symbol representative ofchanges in price during a time period in which a highest price occurredat a first time within the time period, and a lowest price occurred at asecond time within the time period, the method includes receiving a lastprice corresponding to a third time within the time period, comparingthe last price to the highest price and the lowest price, in response tothe comparing step, updating the highest price with the last price andupdating the highest price to correspond to the third time if the lastprice is greater than or equal to the highest price and updating thelowest price with the last price and updating the lowest price tocorrespond to the third time if the last price is less than or equal tothe lowest price, generating, by a charting engine, the HLL type symbolby drawing a spatiotemporal relationship between the highest price, thelowest price, and the last price in accordance with a selected symbolrendering method, wherein a height of the HLL type symbol indicates adifference between the highest price and the lowest price and a width ofthe HLL type symbol indicates a difference between the third time and anearlier of when the highest price occurred and the lowest priceoccurred, and displaying, by the charting engine, the generated HLL typesymbol at a particular position.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method forgenerating a data structure, the data structure being used to generatean HLC or OHLC type symbol, the method includes receiving a plurality ofprices, each price corresponding to a unique time within a time period,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open pricecorresponding to a start of the time period, a highest pricecorresponding to a first time within the time period, a lowest pricecorresponding to a second time within the time period, and a close pricecorresponding to an end of the time period, calculating a highest symbolposition value indicating when the first time occurred between the startof the time period and the end of the time period, calculating a lowestsymbol position value indicating when the second time occurred betweenthe start of the time period and the end of the time period, and storingthe time period, the open price, the highest price, the lowest price,the close price, the highest symbol position value, and the lowestsymbol position value in association with one another in the datastructure on a non-transitory computer readable medium.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method forgenerating a data structure, the data structure being used to generatean HLL or OHLL type symbol, the method includes receiving a plurality ofprices, each price corresponding to a unique time within a time period,determining, from the received plurality of the prices, an open pricecorresponding to a start of the time period, a highest pricecorresponding to a first time within the time period, a lowest pricecorresponding to a second time within the time period, and a last pricecorresponding to a third time within the time period, calculating anhighest symbol position value indicating when the first time occurredbetween the start of the time period and the end of the time period,calculating a lowest symbol position value indicating when the secondtime occurred between the start of the time period and the end of thetime period, calculating a symbol partial-width value indicating whenthe third time occurred between the start of the time period and the endof the time period, and storing the time period, the open price, thehighest price, the lowest price, the last price, the highest symbolposition value, the lowest symbol position value, and the symbolpartial-width value in association with one another in the datastructure on a non-transitory computer readable medium.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method forgenerating a data structure, the data structure being used to generatean HLC or OHLC type symbol, the method includes receiving a plurality ofOHLC data, each piece of the OHLC data corresponding to a uniqueintra-time period within a time period, determining, from the receivedplurality of the OHLC data, an open price corresponding to a start ofthe time period, a highest price corresponding to a first intra-timeperiod, a lowest price corresponding to a second intra-time period, anda close price corresponding to an end of the time period, calculating ahighest symbol position value indicating when the first intra-timeperiod occurred between the start of the time period and the end of thetime period, calculating a lowest symbol position value indicating whenthe second intra-time period occurred between the start of the timeperiod and the end of the time period, and storing the time period, theopen price, the highest price, the lowest price, the close price, thehighest symbol position value, and the lowest symbol position value inassociation with one another in the data structure on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an apparatusincludes processing circuitry configured to receive, from a requestor, arequest to obtain OHLC data representative of a time period, access, foreach intra-time period of a plurality of intra-time periods in the timeperiod, intra-time price data including an intra-time open price, anintra-time high price, an intra-time low price, and an intra-time closeprice corresponding to the intra-time period, determine, from theaccessed intra-time price data for the plurality of intra-time periods,an open price, which is an intra-time open price of an initialintra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods and a closeprice, which is an intra-time close price of a last intra-time period ofthe plurality of intra-time periods, determine, from the intra-time highprice of each of the plurality of intra-time periods, a highest priceoccurring within a first intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods and from the intra-time low price of each of theplurality of intra-time periods, a lowest price occurring within asecond intra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods,generate a first normalization value indicative of a positionalrelationship between the first intra-time period and the time period anda second normalization value indicative of a positional relationshipbetween the second intra-time period and the time period, and send, tothe requestor, a response including the determined open price, thedetermined highest price, the determined lowest price, the determinedclose price, the generated first normalization value, and the generatedsecond normalization value.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an article ofmanufacture including a non-transitory computer readable medium havinginstructions stored thereon, the instructions configured to cause acomputer to perform operations including one or more a computerimplemented methods listed above.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatusincludes a memory element of a computer configured to store computerreadable instructions in operative association with a processor for thecomputer configured to read and execute the computer readableinstructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable mediumlisted above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1-A is a prior art illustration of a bullish OHLC price bar.

FIG. 1-B is a prior art illustration of a bullish candlestick.

FIG. 1-C is a prior art illustration of a bearish candlestick.

FIG. 1-D is a prior art illustration of different types of candlesticks.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary distributed computer system inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary information recordsstored in memory in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4-A is a prior art depiction of a portion of a data structure formarket data such as time/sales data.

FIG. 4-B is a prior art depiction of a portion of a data structure formarket data such as OHLC data.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for processing anorder in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of how different kinds of candlesticks can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7-A is an illustration of enhanced candlesticks having both anupper wick and lower wick that can be generated in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 7-B is an illustration of more enhanced candlesticks that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8-A is a block diagram of a processor used to produce enhanced OHLCdata in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8-B is a depiction of a portion of a data structure for theenhanced OHLC data in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 11-A is an illustration of an enhanced HLC price bar that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11-B is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can bedynamically generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13-A is an illustration of alternate enhanced candlesticks that canbe generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13-B is an illustration of alternate enhanced OHLC price bars thatcan be generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a OHLC price bar in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC price bar in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying an OHLC type of price bar in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price symbols that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying another alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 22 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC symbol and HLC price symbolthat can be generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC symbol in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a OHLC symbol in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 26-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a price range symbol in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 26-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 27-A is an illustration of an enhanced candlestick including aplurality of upper and lower wicks that can be generated in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 27-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick including a second upper wick and secondlower wick in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 27-C is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick including a plurality of upper wicks andlower wicks in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a diagram depicting an exemplary configuration settingsinterface in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 29-A is an illustration of an end of time period demarcationindicator in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 29-B is an illustration of a price chart including price rangesymbols with a plurality of fixed widths in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 30-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a demarcation indicator in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 30-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a magnified width of a portion of a plurality of pricerange symbols in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 31-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingan OHLL type symbol in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 31-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingan HLL type symbol in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generating aprice range symbol in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 33-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure used to generate a HLC or OHLC type symbol inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 33-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure used to generate a HLL or OHLL type symbol inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 33-C is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed forcalculating a symbol partial-width value based upon when the last priceoccurred during a time period in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 33-D is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure corresponding to a plurality of intra-time periods usedto generate a HLC or OHLC type symbol in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed of an apparatusconfigured to generate normalization values indicative of a positionalrelationship in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for providing a distributedcomputer system 200 in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention and includes one or more network access devices such as deviceof a user 210, connected 215 via a network 220. The network 220 may useInternet communications protocols (IP) to allow network access devices210 communicate with each other to communicate securities, derivatives,and currencies market data 225 stored and streamed from the cloud via atleast one data provider device 230, for example. Such network accessdevices 210 and data provider devices 230 can be configured asclient/server, peer-to-peer, publish-subscribe, processing agent,ad-hoc, and the like. It is understood that a single network accessdevice 210 and a data provider device 230 may be configured to performboth the client/server or publisher/subscriber roles.

The communication device of such network access device may include atransceiver, a modem, a network interface card, or other interfacedevices to communicate with the electronic network 220 and may furtherbe operatively coupled to and/or include a Global Positioning System(GPS) via a GPS receiver (not shown). The modem may communicate with theelectronic network 220 via a line 215 such as a telephone line, an ISDNline, a coaxial line, a cable television line, a fiber optic line, or acomputer network line. Alternatively, the modem may wirelesslycommunicate with the electronic network 220. The electronic network 220may provide an on-line service, an Internet service provider, a localarea network service, a wide area network service, a cable televisionservice, a wireless data service, an intranet, a satellite service, orthe like.

Such network access devices may be hand held devices, palmtop computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, notebook, laptop, portablecomputers, desktop PCs, workstations, and/or larger/smaller computersystems. It is noted that the network access devices may have a varietyof forms, including but not limited to, a general purpose computer, anetwork computer, an internet television, a set top box, a web-enabledtelephone, an internet appliance, a portable wireless device, a gameplayer, a video recorder, and/or an audio component, for example.

Each network access device may typically include one or more memories310, processors 315, and input/output devices 320. An input device maybe any suitable device for the user to give input, for example: akeyboard, a 10-key pad, a telephone key pad, a light pen or any penpointing device, a touchscreen, a button, a dial, a joystick, a steeringwheel, a foot pedal, a mouse, a trackball, an optical or magneticrecognition unit such as a bar code or magnetic swipe reader, a voice orspeech recognition unit, a remote control attached via cable or wirelesslink to a game set, television, and/or cable box. A data glove, aneye-tracking device, or any MIDI device may also be used. A displaydevice may be any suitable output device, such as a display screen,text-to-speech converter, printer, plotter, fax, television set, oraudio player. Although the input device is typically separate from thedisplay device, they may be combined; for example: a display with anintegrated touchscreen, a display with an integrated keyboard, or aspeech-recognition unit combined with a text-to-speech converter.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer environment200 shown in FIG. 2 is intended to be merely illustrative. The presentinvention may also be practiced in other computing environments. Forexample, the present invention may be practiced in multiple processorenvironments wherein the network access device includes multipleprocessors. Moreover, the network access device need not include all ofthe input/output devices 320 as discussed above and may also includeadditional devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thepresent invention may also be practiced via Intranets and more generallyin distributed environments in which a network access device requestsresources from another network access device.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a storage device such as memory310 in operative association with a processor 315. The processor 315 isoperatively coupled to input/output devices 320 in network accessdevices for users and market participants of market data 225 such astraders, investors, market makers, brokers, bankers, analysts,researchers, and the like. Stored in memory 310 may be informationrecords 325 having any combination of exemplary content such as lists,files, relational pointers, programs, interfaces, engines, modules,templates, rule sets, libraries, and databases. Such records may includefor example: user interface/templates/programs/APIs (applicationprogramming interface) 330, configuration settings 335, charting engineand technical analysis module and trading software 340, time/sales data345, OHLC data 350, and AI/pattern recognition module 355. Theseinformation records may be further introduced and discussed in moredetail throughout the disclosure of this invention.

FIG. 4-A illustrates a portion of a data structure for market data 225such as time/sales data 345. The data structure can include data fieldssuch as a date/time 410, security or derivative symbol 415, sales price420, size (e.g., number of shares or contracts, etc.) of the sale 425,and the exchange 430 that the sale took place.

FIG. 4-B illustrates a portion of a data structure for market data 225such as OHLC data 350. The data structure can include data fields 440such as a date/time 410, open price 134, high price 142, low price 150,close price 138, and volume. Each data record is representative of suchdata for a given time period and in turn used to represent a pluralityof intra-time periods within a larger given time period. For instance,each data record shows the OHLC data for a one minute interval based onthe time data which can define a first intra-time period 445, a secondintra-time period 450, a third intra-time period 455, and can continue(not shown) to an endless number of intra-time periods up to a last orfinal intra-time period. For instance, if the given time period ofinterest is a five minute interval then five data records of one minuteintervals would be used to as five intra-time periods.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the correspondence andoperative association between data fields and/or data files can take onone-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relationships.Relationships of data structures can take the form of delimited files,lists, tables, arrays, hashes, database records, objects, trees, graphs,rings, hub-spoke, and the like.

Candlestick patterns are commonly used in technical analysis to describeprice movements over time of traded objects of value such as securities(e.g., stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, etc.), derivatives (e.g.,options, forwards, futures, swaps, etc.), indices, commodities, orcurrencies further including cryptocurrencies as a class of digitalasset. Other digital assets can include tokens, non-fungible tokens(NFTs), and the tokenization of contracts, physical assets such as realproperty, intangible property, and intellectual property. Suchcandlestick symbols and patterns can further depict the ratio of pricemovements between a plurality of assets, currency pairs includingcryptocurrency pairs and token pairs, or traded objects of value.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.When a network access device 210 receives asset type market data 225including OHLC data 350 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can generate and display instep 510 a first vertical line with a height representative of a rangebetween a first high price and first low price from the OHLC data of afirst intra-time period and then generate and display in step 515 asecond vertical line with a height representative of a range between asecond high price and second low price from a OHLC data of a secondintra-time period.

A body from an open price of the time period and a close price of thesecond intra-time period can be generated in step 520 and a highestintra-time period from each high price and a lowest intra-time periodfrom each low price of each intra-time period can be determined in step525. The candlestick can be generated and displayed in step 530 byoverlaying the body upon the first and second vertical line and removingall portions of all vertical lines outside of the body from allintra-time periods other than from above the body of the highestintra-time period and below the body of the lowest intra-time period toform at least one of an upper wick and lower wick, respectively.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of how different types of candlesticks can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. A series of fiveOHLC prices are shown in 610 in this case shown in the form ofcandlesticks. For the sake of example each candlestick represents a oneminute time period. The illustration shows what a prior art five minutecandlestick would look like in row 620 when rendering it through knownconventional techniques as each of the five OHLC prices having oneminute intervals are processed. Each column represents a different oneminute intra-time period of the five minutes. The first columnrepresenting a first intra-time period 630, a second column representinga second intra-time period 635, a third column representing a thirdintra-time period 640, a fourth column representing a fourth intra-timeperiod 645, and a fifth column representing a fifth intra-time period650.

Adjacent to the right of the five one minute candlesticks 610 shown inaggregate are the progressive sequence 615 of the same candlesticksshown as each intra-time period passes. For instance, after the secondintra-time period 635 one can view the first two one minute candlesticksin the series of five candlesticks 610, after the third intra-timeperiod 640 one can view the first three one minute candlesticks in theseries of five candlesticks 610 and so forth. One can observe thechanging height of the prior art single five minute candlestick shown inrow 620. In all cases the single candlestick has the same fixed widthbody and includes a centerline for displaying upper and lower wickssimilar to how all known charting programs would render candlesticksfrom OHLC prices. The other drawback is that there is no way to tell howmuch of the five minute period has progressed from viewing the prior artcandlestick.

However, a clear distinction can be shown in the last row 660, as eachintra-time period progresses (630, 635, 640, 645, 650) the width of thecandlestick widens as wide as the width of the current and priorintra-time periods rather than being a fixed width during the entirefive minute time period as shown above. This gives a user a visual senseof how much time has passed during the five minute time period. Theother exemplary distinction in accordance with the present invention isthat the widening candlestick shows more accurately when the high priceor low price has occurred based on rendering the upper wick in thehighest known intra-time period and the lower wick in the lowest knownintra-time period. By modifying where the wicks are positioned along thebody width of the candlestick provides more specific information as towhen a high and low price have occurred without adding any additionalgraphic information.

The steps as shown in FIG. 5 can be repeated for a plurality ofintra-time periods for the given time period. By so doing, a wideningcandlestick can be dynamically generated and displayed (see 660) byrepetitively displaying a current vertical line from a OHLC data of acurrent intra-time period adjacent to all prior generated vertical linesof all prior intra-time periods and repetitively generating a currentbody and at least one of a current upper wick and lower wick where thewidth of the current body is equal to the sum of the width of thecurrent intra-time period and each width of all the prior intra-timeperiods. This can continue until a final candlestick is generated anddisplayed having a final body and at least one of a final upper wick andlower wick where the width of the final body is equal to the width ofthe time period in this case a five minute time period having five oneminute intra-time periods.

For example, a user may wish to view a chart rendering candlesticks inone hour intervals having access to one minute OHLC data where the bodyis sixty pixels wide. All known charting programs will take an hour tochange the shape of a candlestick having a sixty pixel wide body onceeach minute. However, by employing the methods of the instant invention,a new vertical line one pixel wide is drawn each minute representing thehigh/low price range of an intra-time period. So after thirty minutes,the candlestick generated will be thirty pixels wide because of thethirty vertical lines drawn adjacent to each other in succession with athirty pixel wide body overlayed and all pixels removed to leave inplace the upper and lower wick in their respective columns to visuallyindicate when the highest price and lowest price during the thirtyminutes had been discovered. In this example, it could be determined atthe end of the time period that the high price occurred at the tenthminute of the hour in the tenth intra-time period and a low priceoccurred at the twenty fifth minute of the hour in the twenty fifthintra-time period and as a result an upper wick would be displayed inthe tenth pixel column representative of the tenth intra-time period andthe lower wick would be displayed in the twenty fifth pixel columnrepresentative of the twenty fifth intra-time period.

If there are price gaps between two adjacent vertical lines they can getfilled when the body is overlayed across those lines. In a bullishcandle where the close price is higher than the open price, the body isfilled white to remove all pixels inside the body frame. Most of thebody is already technically drawn because each column of pixelsrepresenting each vertical line for each intra-time period are drawnadjacent to each other.

Further a given time period and/or intra-time period can scale from theexecution of a single sale price known as tick data to a batch or groupof ticks data to an interval of a second to seconds or minute to minutesor hour to hours or day to days or week to weeks or month to months oryear to years and beyond. Time period is used primarily throughout dueto most charting examples shown are time period based price charts andbar charts. However, it is understood to one of ordinary skill of theart that similar charts can be based on intervals other than time suchas a predetermined number of ticks or a predetermined amount of volumeor a predetermined range of price, to name a few. Essentially, there isa category of data-based chart intervals that enable market participantsto view charts that are driven by factors other than time. Therefore,time period can be further extended to also mean a predeterminedinterval of units other than time such as ticks, volume, and price rangeand charts can be further extended to mean charts other than pricecharts and bar charts and can also reference volume charts, tick charts,range bar charts, three line break charts, point and figure charts, kagicharts, and renko charts, for example.

In the alternative, if dynamic generation of a widening enhancedcandlestick requires too much computing resources then configurationsettings 335 can be used to only display the final enhanced candlestickat the end of the last intra-time period which is the same time as theend of the time period itself. So it is possible to show prior artcenterline candlesticks corresponding to price changes during the timeperiod before showing the permanent final enhanced candlestickrepresentative of the whole time period at the end of the time period.

When the trading interface including the charting engine is closed,cached data is automatically saved to the local database such that thenext time a user requests a chart, the data is loaded from the cache ordatabase first, then missing historical data and real-time data arerequested from the data provider.

FIG. 7-A is an illustration of enhanced candlesticks having both anupper wick and lower wick that can be generated in accordance with thepresent invention. In the simplest example take a given time period of 2minutes using one minute OHLC data, the following are basic examples ofwhat an enhanced candlestick that includes both an upper wick and lowerwick can look like. A new enhanced candlestick called a Morning Candle710 can be formed when both a high price and low price is found in afirst intra-time period. A new enhanced candlestick called a FallingCandle 715 can be formed when a high price is found in a firstintra-time period and a low price found in the second intra-time period.A new enhanced candlestick called a Rising Candle 720 can be formed whena low price is found in a first intra-time period and a high price foundin the second intra-time period. A new enhanced candlestick called anEvening Candle 710 can be formed when both a high price and low price isfound in the second intra-time period. As the intra-time periodsincrease so do the number of combinations of new enhanced candlesticksthat can be generated. Configuration settings 335 can be used to provideoptions whether the upper and lower wicks are displayed at the start,middle, or end of the intra-time period. For instance, the middle wasselected for both upper and lower wicks the wick lines would render ateither the 25% or the 75% along the width of the body.

FIG. 7-B is an illustration of more enhanced candlesticks that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. Now that it is shownhow and why wicks of candlesticks can be moved to create enhancedcandlesticks that more accurately indicate when a high price and lowprice has occurred in a given time period a closer look at prior artcandlesticks can be reviewed and shown how they can be enhanced tocreate newer types of candlesticks. For instance the Hanging Man 170 canbroaden into at least two new enhanced candle sticks such as an EarlyHanging Man 730 and a Late Hanging Man 735 or a Shooting Star 175 canbroaden into at least two new enhanced candlesticks such as a MorningShooting Star 740 and an Evening Shooting Star 745 or a Dragonfly Doji180 can broaden into at least two new enhanced candlesticks such as aMorning Dragonfly Doji 750 and an Evening Dragonfly Doji 755 or aGravestone Doji 185 can broaden into at least two new enhancedcandlesticks such as a Morning Gravestone Doji 760 and an EveningGravestone Doji 765 or lastly, a Long-Legged Doji 190 can broaden intoat least two new enhanced candlesticks such as a Falling Long-LeggedDoji 770 and a Rising Long-Legged Doji 775. One can visually see whysuch Long-Legged Dojis would be described as Falling and Risingrespectively as they visually depict whether the high price or low pricecame first and serve as more of a leading indicator as to the degree ornature of indecision that is typically attributed to Doji typecandlesticks.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that scores of enhancedcandlesticks can be named by the use of the techniques described in thisinstant invention which may offer greater degree of granularity andinsight toward those speculators applying technical analysis of trendsand reversals based on such new visual information. Further, a singleenhanced candlestick can serve as a visual summary or substitute formore complex conventional candlestick patterns of a plurality ofcandlesticks across multiple intra-time periods.

FIG. 8-A is a block diagram of a processor used to produce enhanced OHLCdata in accordance with the present invention. A device processor 315can receive time/sales data 345 and parse through all sales for a giventime period. The first sale of the period is the open price and lastsale of the period is the close price. After all sales are parsed it canbe determined which sale at what time had the highest price as well aswhich sale at what time had the lowest price. OHLC data 350 of prior artis usually produced this way from time/sales data. However such OHLCdata 350 format only discloses price and volume for a time period andneglects to include the absolute time of the high and low price and alsoneglects to include a percentage of time relative to the time period ofthe high and low price. Enhanced OHLC data 810 can be generated by theprocessor and stored to include the absolute time of the highest priceand absolute time of the lowest price for the time period which can bestored as a data record or delimited list. Newly packaged enhanced OHLCdata makes adoption to enhanced candlestick charts quicker and easier.

When time/sales data is not available, enhanced OHLC data 810 can alsobe generated by the processor 315 from known OHLC data 350. Forinstance, investors may not be as concerned with hourly pricefluctuations and might only wish to chart a security with daily OHLCdata. Since there are three hundred ninety minutes in a trading day, theprocessor 315 can parse through intraday OHLC data in one minuteintervals to determine which minute of the day had the highest price andwhich intra-time period of the day had the lowest price. In one example,those intra-time periods can be coded as values of daily percentage oftime of the high price and daily percentage of time of the low pricewhich could be stored as part of the enhanced OHLC daily data 810.

FIG. 8-B is a depiction of a portion of a data structure for theenhanced OHLC data in accordance with the present invention. Additionalfields such as time of high price 820, time of low price 825, high pricetime percentage 830, and low price time percentage 835 can be generatedas referenced above and included in the data structure to enhance OHLCdata 810. Each record shows an absolute time and can also includepercentage of time relative to the intra-time period to make it quickerand easier for charting engines to generate enhanced candlesticks asreferenced throughout this instant invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.When a network access device 210 receives security market data 225including enhanced OHLC data 810 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can calculate in step 910 asize of a body of the candlestick, the body having a width and heightwhere the width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period and calculate in step 915 a size of at least one of anupper wick and lower wick of the candlestick, the upper wick having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a height representative of a low priceat a second time during the time period. After such calculations thecandlestick can be generated in step 920 by connecting a bottom of theupper wick substantially perpendicular to a top of the body, theconnection dividing the top of the body into a first top part and asecond top part where the ratio between the first top part and the topof the body corresponds to the ratio between the first time and the timeperiod and by connecting a top of the lower wick substantiallyperpendicular to a bottom of the body, the connection dividing thebottom of the body into a first bottom part and a second bottom partwhere the ratio between the first bottom part and the bottom of the bodycorresponds to the ratio between the second time and the time period,and display in step 925 the candlestick.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for modifyingthe display of a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.When a displayed candlestick is identified in step 1010 with a body andat least one of an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a widthrepresentative of a time period and a height representative of a rangebetween an open price and close price during the time period, the upperwick having a centerline projecting from the top of the body having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottomof the body having a height representative of a low price at a secondtime during the time period the modified candlestick can be generated instep 1020 by moving the upper wick from the centerline to a connectionpoint substantially perpendicular to the top of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the top of the body into a first top part and second toppart where the ratio between the first top part and the top of the bodycorresponds to the ratio between the first time and time period andmoving the lower wick from the centerline to a connection pointsubstantially perpendicular to the bottom of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the bottom of the body into a first bottom part andsecond bottom part where the ratio between the first bottom part and thebottom of the body corresponds to the ratio between the second time andtime period. The modified candlestick can then be displayed in step1030.

Unlike conventional candlesticks that display the wick(s) along acenterline vertical axis one hundred percent of the time, the freedom ofthe instant invention to move the upper and lower wicks along the bodyof the candlestick would make enhanced candlesticks with wick(s) along acenterline vertical axis rare and could only happen when either or bothof the high price and low price occur near or around half of the giventime period.

Though it is generally preferred that the wicks are displayed verticalthe term substantially perpendicular is used to allow for alternateaspects of the instant invention. The wicks can be adapted to beslightly rotated or tilted forward or backward to indicate pricedirection or momentum during the time period or near the time of thehigh price or low price. Further, tilting each wick along the centerlineof a conventional candlestick can indicate which of a high price and lowprice had occurred first during the time period. The degree a tilt orrotational can be proportional to the length of time between theoccurrence of the high and low price within the given time period.

There are different types of market data available used to render anddisplay an enhanced candlestick chart such as real-time streaming livedata when a given market is open and historical data used for research,technical analysis, and back-testing. Enhanced OHLC data 810 will beparticularly useful for historical data to enable users to visualizeenhanced candlesticks over longer time periods spanning years or decadesif need be.

The methods shown above can be employed from points of view ofpublisher/provider and subscriber/user. For instance, the data providerdevice 230 of a publisher can receive a request to download an enhancedcandlestick chart data feed and send a flash object that includes theenhanced candlestick chart to the network access device 210 of a user orsubscriber that can be opened and displayed in a browser or embeddedinto an electronic document. Further, the network access device 210could store in memory an enhanced candlestick price chart display appletthat runs in a standard Java virtual machine (JVM) executing within abrowser or make API calls to receive real-time streaming enhanced OHLCdata 810 and/or enhanced candlestick chart publishing data from thecharting engine of the data provider device. Further API connections 330can integrate a real-time streaming enhanced candlestick chart or OHLCprice bar chart module directly with brokerage trading softwareincluding trading portfolios, order management systems, and accountingsystems.

Such enhanced OHLC data flow can be operatively communicated betweenpublisher/provider and subscriber/user via a Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP) based query that can utilize a Hyper Text MarkupLanguage (HTML), an eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Dynamic-HTML(DHTML), Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), JavaScript, Applets, orsome other suitable communication protocol or content format. Furtheropen source charting libraries such as Chart.js, Chartist.js, D3.js,Google Charts, n3-charts, and the like can be modified with newlyintegrated function calls to be used for the dynamic generation andrendering of OHLC and HLC type symbols discussed in the instantinvention throughout. In one embodiment, a cloud server can serve as apublisher platform for a Charting as a Service (CaaS) for subscribers togain access to such new enhanced price charts that can further beintegrated into interfaces of trading software and systems for marketparticipants.

Due to the expanded visual symbol set of unique enhanced candlesticks, achart pattern recognition and analysis module 355 can be applied uponenhanced candlestick, OHLC price bar, or HLC price bar sequences ofvarying pattern length and use Artificial Intelligence type (AI)deterministic algorithms including machine learning algorithms, Bayesiannetworks, neural networks, or fuzzy systems. In some embodiments, anynumber of stochastic algorithms may be implemented including: geneticalgorithms or Monte Carlo algorithms. By applying such methods, greaterinsight can be revealed as to the greater likelihood of the next type ofenhanced candlestick or price bar that could occur in a currentunfolding sequence or progression of emerging enhanced candlestickpatterns.

The present invention includes dynamically generating and displaying awidening candlestick by repetitively displaying a current vertical linefrom a OHLC data of a current intra-time period adjacent (to the right)to all prior displayed generated vertical lines of all prior intra-timeperiods and repetitively generating a current body and at least one of acurrent upper wick and lower wick wherein the width of the current bodyis equal to the sum of the width of the current intra-time period andeach width of all the prior intra-time periods and further includesgenerating and displaying a final candlestick having a final body and atleast one of a final upper wick and lower wick wherein the width of thefinal body is equal to the width of the time period. The invention canfurther include generating OHLC data in real-time after each intra-timeperiod from time/sales data streamed during the intra-time period anddetermining from configuration settings 335 whether at least one of anupper and lower wick is displayed at either the start, middle, or end ofthe width of the body for each intra-time period or time period. A timeperiod can range from a fraction of a second to decades.

All the techniques of using the width of a candle body as an intra-timeaxis to proportionately shift the display of upper and lower wicks aswell as the dynamic generation techniques of widening the candle bodyfor each intra-time period can be applied to HLC and OHLC price bars andcharts as well.

FIG. 11-A is an illustration of an enhanced HLC price bar that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. The illustrationvisually compares the prior art of FIG. 1-A, where an OHLC bar has asingle vertical line 110 that shows the high price 114 and the low price118 of a time period with the open price 122 marked by a tick mark onthe left of the vertical line 110, and the close price 126 marked by atick mark on the right of the vertical line 110. This prior art chart isof a price axis only for a discrete interval of time during a timeperiod. Rather than using the vertical line centric to showing OHLC itcan be appreciated that the new HLC price bar 1100 of the instantinvention splits the vertical high-low price line into two separatevertical lines of a high price bar 1110 and a low price bar 1115 both ofwhich connect and centric to a horizontal close price bar 1120 thelength of which serving as an intra-time axis for the time period sothat a user viewing this new HLC bar can ascertain when the high pricebar 1110 and low price bar 1115 have respectively occurred during thetime period. Optionally a tick mark for an open price (not shown) couldbe drawn in this case to the left of the low price bar 1115 and turn theenhanced HLC price bar 1100 into an enhanced OHLC price bar.

FIG. 11-B is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. A similar techniquethat was applied toward enhancing and changing the function of HLC pricebars can also be applied toward enhancing OHLC price bars (1130,1160).The new OHLC price bar 1130 of the instant invention splits the verticalhigh-low price line into two separate vertical lines of a high price bar1140 and a low price bar 1145 both of which connect and centric to a newopen-close price bar 1150 the length of which serving as an intra-timeaxis for the time period so that a user viewing this new OHLC bar canascertain when the high price bar 1140 and low price bar 1145 haverespectively occurred during the time period. The open-close price bar1150 is drawn as a rising diagonal in this case. This diagonal bar wouldbe the same length and angle as if it served as a diagonal of a candlebody (not shown) representative of the height between the open price andclose price and the width of the time period. Another new OHLC price bar1160 also splits the vertical high-low price line into two separatevertical lines of a high price bar 1170 and a low price bar 1175, inthis case the high connects perpendicular to a horizontal close pricebar 1180 and the low price bar 1175 connects perpendicular to ahorizontal open price bar 1185. An additional connecting bar 1190 couldbe optionally drawn to connect the intersection of the low-open pricebars (1175, 1185) with the high-close price bars (1170, 1180). Theconnecting bar 1190 illustrates the overall price flow during the timeperiod in between high and low price events. Essentially the presentinvention includes drawing a line between the open-high perpendicularconnection and the low-close perpendicular connection if the low priceoccurred after the high price and drawing a line between the open-lowperpendicular connection and the high-close perpendicular connection ifthe low price occurred before the high price.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can bedynamically generated in accordance with the present invention. Similarto how row 660 of FIG. 6, shows the progression of each intra-timeperiod (630, 635, 640, 645, 650) where the width of the candlestickwidens as wide as the width of the current and prior intra-time periodsduring the entire time period, such to does row 1200 show theprogression of each intra-time period (1210, 1215, 1220, 1225, 1230) ofenhanced HLC price bars where the width of the horizontal close barprogressively widens during the time period giving a user a visual senseof how much time has passed during the time period. The other exemplarydistinction in accordance with the present invention is that thewidening horizontal close bar shows more accurately when the high priceor low price has occurred based on rendering the upper price bar in thehighest known intra-time period and the lower price bar in the lowestknown intra-time period. By modifying where the vertical price bars arepositioned along the horizontal close bar provides more specificinformation as to when a high and low price have occurred during thetime period without adding any additional graphic information. Suchgeneration techniques can also apply to real-time dynamic generation ofenhanced OHLC price bars (1130, 1160). For instance, the size and angleof the open-close price bar 1150 can dynamically change in relation tothe difference between open price and close price for each intra-timeperiod during the time period.

FIG. 13-A is an illustration of alternate enhanced candlesticks that canbe generated in accordance with the present invention. Though it hasbeen shown a best mode for carrying out the instant invention withcandlesticks are to use the width of the candle body as an intra-timeaxis of a time period to more precisely break up the single centerlinewick into an upper wick and lower wick that can be shifted along thecandle body, that level of detail or granularity might not be neededparticularly in the case of sparse computing resources. In this case,alternate candlesticks can also visually depict which came first, thehigh price or the low price in a given time period. Alternate enhancedcandlestick 1310 shows how only the upper wick is shifted to the rightwhich is enough to signify that the low price came first. Alternateenhanced candlestick 1315 shows how only the upper wick istilted/rotated to the right which is enough to signify that the lowprice came first. Alternate enhanced candlestick 1320 shows how thecenterline wick that represents both the depiction of an upper wick andlower wick is shifted clockwise can visually signify to the user thatthe low price came first. It of course would be apparent that shiftingthe centerline counter-clockwise would signify that the high price camefirst (not shown).

FIG. 13-B is an illustration of alternate enhanced OHLC price bars thatcan be generated in accordance with the present invention. Though it hasbeen shown a best mode for carrying out the instant invention with OHLCprice bars are to use the width of a price bar spanning from the openprice to close price as an intra-time axis of a time period to moreprecisely break up the single centerline high-low price bar into anupper price bar and lower price bar that can be shifted along theopen-close price bar, that level of detail or granularity might not beneeded particularly in the case of sparse computing resources. In thiscase, alternate OHLC price bars can also visually depict which camefirst, the high price or the low price in a given time period. Alternateenhanced OHLC price bar 1330 shows how only the upper price barrepresentative of the high price is shifted to the right which is enoughto signify that the low price came first. Alternate enhanced OHLC pricebar 1335 shows how only the upper price bar is tilted/rotated to theright which is enough to signify that the low price came first.Alternate enhanced OHLC price bar 1340 shows how the centerline high-lowprice bar is shifted clockwise which can visually signify to the userthat the low price came first. It of course would be apparent thatshifting the centerline counter-clockwise would signify that the highprice came first (not shown).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention. When a candlestick is identified with a body and at least oneof an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width representativeof a time period and a height representative of a range between an openprice and close price during the time period, the upper wick having acenterline projecting from the top of the body having a heightrepresentative of a high price at a first time during the time periodand the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottom of thebody having a height representative of a low price at a second timeduring the time period it can be determined in step 1410 whether the lowprice occurred before the high price during the time period. If the lowprice did occur first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1415 by at least one of a moving the upper wick to the right ofcenterline to a connection point perpendicular to the top of the bodyand moving the lower wick to the left of centerline to a connectionpoint perpendicular to the bottom of the body. However, if the highprice occurred first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1420 by at least one of a moving the upper wick to the left ofcenterline to a connection point perpendicular to the top of the bodyand moving the lower wick to the right of centerline to a connectionpoint perpendicular to the bottom of the body. In either case, thecharting engine can then display in step 1430 the modified candlestick(e.g., 1310) visually depicting to the user whether the low priceoccurred before or after the high price during the time period.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention. When a candlestick is identified with a body and at least oneof an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width representativeof a time period and a height representative of a range between an openprice and close price during the time period, the upper wick having acenterline projecting from the top of the body having a heightrepresentative of a high price at a first time during the time periodand the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottom of thebody having a height representative of a low price at a second timeduring the time period it can be determined in step 1510 whether the lowprice occurred before the high price during the time period. If the lowprice did occur first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1515 by at least one of a tilting a top of the upper wickclockwise and tilting a bottom of the lower wick clockwise from a pivoton the centerline. However, if the high price occurred first then thecandlestick can be modified or generated in step 1520 by at least one ofa tilting a top of the upper wick counter-clockwise and tilting a bottomof the lower wick counter-clockwise from a pivot on the centerline. Ineither case, the charting engine can then display in step 1530 themodified candlestick (e.g., 1315,1320) visually depicting to the userwhether the low price occurred before or after the high price during thetime period.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a OHLC price bar in accordance with thepresent invention. When a OHLC price bar is identified with a verticalprice bar having a center point and a height representative of a rangebetween a high price and low price during the time period it can bedetermined in step 1610 whether the low price occurred before the highprice during the time period. If the low price did occur first then theOHLC price bar can be modified or generated in step 1615 by by tiltingthe vertical price bar clockwise from the center point of the verticalprice bar. However, if the high price occurred first then the OHLC pricebar can be modified or generated in step 1620 by by tilting the verticalprice bar counter-clockwise from the center point of the vertical pricebar. In either case, the charting engine can then display in step 1630the modified OHLC price bar (e.g., 1130,1340) visually depicting to theuser whether the low price occurred before or after the high priceduring the time period.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC price bar in accordance with the present invention.When a network access device 210 receives security market data 225including OHLC data 350 (or HLC data only if OHLC data is notavailable), a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can generate and display in step 1710 a firstvertical line with a height representative of a range between a firsthigh price and first low price from the OHLC data of a first intra-timeperiod and then generate and display in step 1715 a second vertical linewith a height representative of a range between a second high price andsecond low price from a OHLC data of a second intra-time period.

A highest intra-time period from each high price and a lowest intra-timeperiod from each low price of each intra-time period can be determinedin step 1720 and a HLC bar can be generated in step 1725 including ahorizontal close bar and at least one of an upper bar and lower bar byremoving all portions of all vertical lines above and below the secondclose price from all intra-time periods other than above the secondclose price of the highest intra-time period and below the second closeprice of the lowest intra-time period. The HLC bar can then be displayedin step 1730 by the charting engine 340, the HLC bar visually depictingand enabling the user to see proportional to the horizontal close barwhen the upper bar and the lower bar have occurred during the timeperiod.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying an OHLC type of price bar in accordance with the presentinvention. When a network access device 210 receives security marketdata 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can generate and display instep 1810 a price bar having a size spanning a time period for a markettraded security and generate in step 1815 at least one of an upper barand lower bar, the upper bar with a height representative of a highprice at a first time and the lower bar with a height representative ofa low price at a second time during the time period.

The upper bar and lower price bar can then be connected in step 1820 tothe price bar by connecting a bottom of the upper bar to a top of theprice bar, the connection dividing the top of the price bar into a firsttop part and a second top part where the ratio between the first toppart and the top of the price bar corresponds to the ratio between thefirst time and the time period and connecting a top of the lower bar toa bottom of the price bar, the connection dividing the bottom of theprice bar into a first bottom part and a second bottom part where theratio between the first bottom part and the bottom of the price barcorresponds to the ratio between the second time and the time period.The price bar, upper bar, and lower bar can then be displayed in step1825 that visually depicts and enables the user to see proportional tothe price bar when the upper bar and the lower bar have occurred duringthe time period.

The price bar is representative of one of a close price, last price,open price, open-close price, and average price. The average price canbe one of a simple moving average (SMA), exponential moving average(EMA), VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price), TWAP (Time Weighted AveragePrice), mean price, median price, ATR (Average True Range) price and thelike. The price bar is not vertical, for instance a price barrepresenting only a close price would be horizontal and a price barrepresentative of line drawn from an open price to a different closeprice would be diagonal. Such diagonal could be the equivalent of thesame diagonal inside a body of the candle (if displayed) representingthe same OHLC time period. The upper price bar and lower price bar aresubstantially vertical. The price bar, upper price bar, and lower pricebar together visually depict to a user one of an enhanced HLC (high,low, close) bar and an enhanced OHLC (open, high, low, close) bar whichcan also be a current enhanced bar displayed adjacent to one or morepreviously displayed enhanced bars to form one of an enhanced HLC pricechart and OHLC price chart. The enhanced HLC bar and enhanced OHLC barcan be rendered as one of a scalable vector graphic (SVG) and Canvasgenerated image. The price bar can also take the form of a body of acandle where the upper price bar is an upper wick and lower price bar isa lower wick that together visually depict to a user an enhancedcandlestick which can be displayed adjacent to one or more previouslydisplayed enhanced candlesticks to form an enhanced candlestick pricechart. The enhanced candlestick can be rendered as one of a scalablevector graphic (SVG) and Canvas generated image with HTML and JavaScriptusing some commands such as rect( ), fillRect( ), strokeRect( ),clearRect( ), moveTo( ), lineTo( ), stroke( ), and fill( ), for example.The price bar can be a line drawn from the open price to the close priceacross the time period. The correspondence of the ratio between thefirst top part and the top of the price bar to the ratio between thefirst time and the time period is substantially equal. The chartingengine can be in operative communication with at least one of a serverdevice, client device, cloud device, and peer device.

FIG. 19 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price symbols that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. Though it has beenshown a preferred mode for carrying out the instant invention with OHLCprice bars are to use the width of a price bar spanning from the openprice to close price as an intra-time axis of a time period to moreprecisely break up the single centerline high-low price bar into anupper price bar and lower price bar that can be shifted along theopen-close price bar, there alternate OHLC price symbols that can alsovisually depict which came first, the high price or the low price in agiven time period. An enhanced candlestick 1910 including a shiftedupper and lower wick to represent when the respective high price and lowprice occurred during a time period as already presented can be used asreference to the generation of new alternate OHLC price symbols. Forinstance, the two intersecting lines symbol 1920 represent theintersection of an open-close price line and a high-low price line. Bysuperimposing the two intersecting lines over the enhanced candlestick1910 one would see that the open-close price line would be the diagonalof the candle body drawn from lower left to upper right and that thehigh-low price line would connect the top of the upper wick to thebottom of the lower wick.

When an open price is lower than the close price the open-close priceline would appear rotated counter-clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the price difference between the close and openprice. When an open price is higher than the close price the open-closeprice line would appear rotated clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the price difference between the open and closeprice. Similarly, when a high price occurs before the low price thehigh-low price line would appear rotated counter-clockwise from avertical axis at an angle proportionate to the price difference betweenthe high and low price. When the high price occurs after the low pricethe high-low price line would appear rotated clockwise from a verticalaxis at an angle proportionate to the price difference between the highand low price.

When a high price occurs before the low price in a time period, thethree contiguous connected lines 1930 can depict the sequence of OHLCwith a first price line connecting the open price to the high price, thesecond line connecting the high price to the low price and the thirdline connecting the low price to the close price. By superimposing thethree contiguous connected lines over the enhanced candlestick 1910 onewould see these lines match up to the open price, high price, low price,and close price respectively. When the high price occurs after the lowprice in the time period, a OHLC sequence can instead take place withthe first price line connecting the open price to the low price, thesecond line connecting the low price to the high price and the thirdline connecting the high price to the close price.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention. When a network access device 210 receives securitymarket data 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315 inoperative communication with a charting engine 340 can determine in step2010 whether a close price is higher than the open price for a giventime period. If so, an open-close price bar can be generated in step2015 with a line drawn from an open price to a close price of the timeperiod which is rotated counter-clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the difference between the close price and openprice otherwise the open-close price bar can be generated in step 2020with a line drawn from the open price to the close price of the timeperiod which is rotated clockwise from a horizontal axis at an angleproportionate to the difference between the close price and open price.

It can then be determined in step 2025 whether the low price occurredbefore the high price during the time period. If so, a high-low pricebar can be generated in step 2030 with a line drawn from the high priceat a first time to the low price at a second time for the given timeperiod which is rotated clockwise from a vertical axis at an angleproportionate to difference between the high price and low priceotherwise the high-low price bar can be generated in step 2035 with aline drawn from the high price at a first time to the low price at asecond time for the given time period which is rotated counter-clockwisefrom a vertical axis at an angle proportionate to difference between thehigh price and low price. In either case, the new OHLC price symbol canbe displayed in step 2040 where the high-low price bar is intersectedover the open-close price bar.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an another alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance withthe present invention. When a network access device 210 receivessecurity market data 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315in operative communication with a charting engine 340 can determine instep 2110 whether the low price occurred before the high price duringthe time period. If so, the OHLC price symbol can be generated anddisplayed in step 2115 with an open-low price line drawn from an openprice to a low price at a second time, a low-high price line drawn fromthe low price to a high price, and a high-close price line drawn fromthe high price to the close price at the end of the time periodotherwise the OHLC price symbol can be generated and displayed in step2120 with an open-high price line drawn from an open price to a highprice at a second time, a high-low price line drawn from the high priceto a low price, and a low-close price line drawn from the low price tothe close price at the end of the time period.

The present invention includes when the close price is a last priceduring the time period and further includes dynamically generating anddisplaying a widening open-close price line by repetitively redrawingthe open-close price line from the open price to the last price duringthe time period where the last price is a close price of an intra-timeperiod within the time period and the duration of the intra-time periodcan be as small a change in the last price from a previous last pricedown to a single tick of data.

The present invention also includes when the close price is a last priceduring the time period and further includes dynamically generating anddisplaying a widening OHLC price bar by repetitively redrawing thelow-close price line from the low price to the last price during thetime period if the low price occurred after the high price and redrawingthe high-close price line from the high price to the last price duringthe time period if the low price occurred before the high price.

The present invention can also apply to specific types of candlestickssuch as Heikin-Ashi price bars which provide average prices for OHLCbased on formulas to smooth noise and visually depict trend. Forinstance, a close price can represent an average price such as(Open+High+Low+Close)/4 or the high price equal to the maximum of High,Open, or Close or the low price equal to the minimum of Low, Open, orClose, and the open price equal to the (Open of previous bar+Close ofprevious bar)/2.

Such teachings presented in this instant invention can further apply to3-D price bar charts where moving averages, volume, or volatility can bemapped along a surface of a third dimension for each discrete timeperiod, for example. Further, frequency distribution of highs and lowscan also be projected along a third dimension. The invention is notlimited to the line based examples shown throughout of differentmodified candlesticks, price bars, and new OHLC and HLC symbols in theform of intersecting lines, triangles, quadrilaterals, contiguousconnecting lines, and the like but can also further include replacingsuch lines and shapes with arcs, ovals, ellipses, and any othergeometric shape that can connect between two or more price points. Forinstance, curved lines such as an arc instead of a straight line can beused to indicate a change in price momentum during at least a portion ofthe time period.

FIG. 22 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC type and HLC type symbolsthat can be generated in accordance with the present invention. Thereare yet further symbols that can also visually depict which came first,the high price or the low price in a given time period. As previouslyshown, an enhanced candlestick 1910 including a shifted upper and lowerwick to represent when the respective high price and low price occurredduring a time period as already presented can be used as reference tothe generation of new alternate OHLC and HLC type symbols. For instance,the OHLC price symbol 2220 represents the spatiotemporal arrangement inprice and time by making the open price, high price at a first time, lowprice at a second time and close price as vertices of a drawnquadrilateral. Similarly, the HLC price symbol 2230 represents thespatiotemporal arrangement in price and time by making the high price ata first time, low price at a second time and close price as vertices ofa drawn triangle. By superimposing either symbol (2220, 2230) over theenhanced candlestick 1910 one would see a match in the position of itsrespective OHLC and HLC price points.

When a high price occurs before the low price in a time period, the twocontiguous connected lines 2240 can depict the sequence of HLC with afirst price line connecting the high price to the low price and thesecond line connecting the low price to the close price. When the highprice occurs after the low price in the time period, a HLC sequence caninstead take place with the first price line connecting the low price tothe high price and the second line connecting the high price to theclose price. The variety of OHLC type symbols and HLC type symbols asdiscussed in the instant invention are not dependent upon drawing anyconnections between points. The three dots 2250 illustrate the drawnspatiotemporal relationship between the high price, the low price, andthe close price as a new HLC type symbol. In turn, a new OHLC typesymbol 2260 includes a square to represent the open price (a dot couldalso be used) and a similar set of three dots representing the high,low, and close prices during the time period. A square can be used todifferentiate from the other dots because it remains in a fixed positionas the symbol is dynamically rendered as it does not change in price orin time during the time period.

A currently redrawn price symbol in accordance with price fluctuationsduring a given time period are technically considered partial HLC orOHLC type symbols, because they rely on a last price instead of a closeprice during the time period but before the end of the time periodgiving rise to a subset class of symbols known as HLL (high, low, last)type symbols and OHLL (open, high, low, last) type symbols which can beapplied to all prior illustrated symbols shown throughout. The selectionof which symbol types to display in a price chart can be chosen by auser selecting a symbol rendering method from configuration settings,which will be presented in more detail later.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.Rather than the method of generating a widening candlestick by thesuccessive repetitive drawing of adjacent vertical lines for eachintra-time period and then erasing portions of lines to form a dynamiccandlestick (see FIG. 5), an alternate method can also be used which isto erase a prior drawn candlestick and redraw and replace it with acurrent candlestick having a wider candle body after each intra-timeperiod. When a network access device 210 receives real-time securitymarket data 225 including OHLC data 350 (or generate OHLC data frommarket data in the absence of OHLC data, not shown) a device processor315 in operative communication with a charting engine 340 can receiveand/or generate in step 2310 a OHLC data of a first intra-time periodand OHLC data of a second intra-time period and generate in step 2315generate a candle body from an open price of the first intra-time periodand a close price of the second intra-time period. A highest intra-timeperiod from each high price and a lowest intra-time period from each lowprice of each intra-time period can then be determined in step 2320 andat least one of an upper wick and lower wick can be generated in step2325 where a bottom of the upper wick connects to a top of the candlebody above the highest intra-time period and a top of the lower wickconnects to a bottom of the candle body below the lowest intra-timeperiod. The candlestick can then be displayed in step 2330 that includesthe candle body and at least one of the upper wick and lower wick, wherethe candlestick visually depicts and enables the user to seeproportional to a width of the candle body when the upper wick and thelower wick have occurred during at least a portion of the time period.

These above steps can be repeated for each intra-time period within todynamically generate and display a widening candlestick after passage ofeach current intra-time period by repetitively erasing the previousdrawn candlestick and generating and displaying a current candlestickfrom a OHLC data of the current intra-time period, the currentcandlestick having a current candle body and at least one of a currentupper wick and lower wick where the width of the current candle body isequal to the sum of the width of the current intra-time period and eachwidth of all the prior intra-time periods. This can continue until thefinal intra-time period of the time period where the current candlestickis erased and a final candlestick is generated and displayed having afinal candle body and at least one of a final upper wick and lower wickwherein the width of the final candle body is equal to the width of thetime period.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC symbol in accordance with the present invention.Rather than the method of generating a widening HLC symbol by thesuccessive repetitive drawing of adjacent vertical lines for eachintra-time period and then erasing portions of lines to form a dynamicHLC symbol (see FIG. 17), an alternate method can also be used which isto erase a prior drawn HLC symbol and redraw and replace it with acurrent HLC symbol having a wider horizontal close price bar after eachintra-time period. When a network access device 210 receives real-timesecurity market data 225 including HLC data 350 (or generate HLC datafrom market data in the absence of HLC data, not shown) a deviceprocessor 315 in operative communication with a charting engine 340 canreceive and/or generate in step 2410 a HLC data of a first intra-timeperiod and HLC data of a second intra-time period and generate in step2415 generate a horizontal close price bar at a close price of thesecond intra-time period, the close price bar spanning across the firstintra-time period and the second intra-time period. A highest intra-timeperiod from each high price and a lowest intra-time period from each lowprice of each intra-time period can then be determined in step 2420 andat least one of an upper price bar and lower price bar can be generatedin step 2425 where a bottom of the upper price bar connects to a top ofthe close price bar above the highest intra-time period and a top of thelower price bar connects to a bottom of the close price bar below thelowest intra-time period. The HLC symbol can then be displayed in step2430 that includes the close price bar and at least one of the upperprice bar and lower price bar, where the HLC symbol visually depicts andenables the user to see proportional to a width of the close price barwhen the upper price bar and the lower price bar have occurred during atleast a portion of the time period.

These above steps can be repeated for each intra-time period within todynamically generate and display a widening HLC symbol after passage ofeach current intra-time period by repetitively erasing the previousdrawn HLC symbol and generating and displaying a current HLC symbol froma HLC data of the current intra-time period, the current HLC symbolhaving a current close price bar and at least one of a current upperprice bar and lower price where the width of the current close price baris equal to the sum of the width of the current intra-time period andeach width of all the prior intra-time periods. This can continue untilthe final intra-time period of the time period where the current HLCsymbol is erased and a final HLC symbol is generated and displayedhaving a final close price bar and at least one of a final upper pricebar and lower price bar where the width of the final close price bar isequal to the width of the time period.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a OHLC symbol in accordance with the present invention.Techniques described above (see FIG. 23, FIG. 24) can also be applied tothe method of generating a widening OHLC symbol by the successiverepetitive drawing of adjacent vertical lines for each intra-time periodand then erasing portions of lines to form a dynamic OHLC symbol, analternate method can also be used which is to erase a prior drawn OHLCsymbol and redraw and replace it with a current OHLC symbol having awider open-close price bar after each intra-time period. When a networkaccess device 210 receives real-time security market data 225 includingOHLC data 350 (or generate OHLC data from market data in the absence ofOHLC data, not shown) a device processor 315 in operative communicationwith a charting engine 340 can generate and display in step 2510 a OHLCdata of a first intra-time period and OHLC data of a second intra-timeperiod and generate in step 2515 generate an open-close price bar drawnfrom an open price of the first intra-time period and a close price ofthe second intra-time period. A highest intra-time period from each highprice and a lowest intra-time period from each low price of eachintra-time period can then be determined in step 2520 and at least oneof an upper price bar and lower price bar can be generated in step 2525where a bottom of the upper price bar connects to a top of theopen-close price bar above the highest intra-time period and a top ofthe lower price bar connects to a bottom of the open-close price barbelow the lowest intra-time period. The OHLC symbol can then bedisplayed in step 2530 that includes the open-close price bar and atleast one of the upper price bar and lower price bar, where the OHLCsymbol visually depicts and enables the user to see proportional to awidth of the open-close price bar when the upper price bar and the lowerprice bar have occurred during at least a portion of the time period.

These above steps can be repeated for each intra-time period within todynamically generate and display a widening OHLC symbol after passage ofeach current intra-time period by repetitively erasing the previousdrawn OHLC symbol and generating and displaying a current OHLC symbolfrom a OHLC data of the current intra-time period, the current OHLCsymbol having a current open-close price bar and at least one of acurrent upper price bar and lower price where the width of the currentopen-close price bar is equal to the sum of the width of the currentintra-time period and each width of all the prior intra-time periods.This can continue until the final intra-time period of the time periodwhere the current OHLC symbol is erased and a final OHLC symbol isgenerated and displayed having a final open-close price bar and at leastone of a final upper price bar and lower price bar where the width ofthe final open-close price bar is equal to the width of the time period.

The present invention can also include generating OHLC data and/or HLCdata in real-time after each intra-time period from time/sales datastreamed during the intra-time period or after each change in last pricefrom time/sales data where the time period can range from a fraction ofa second to decades and the intra-time period can visually depict priceand time as small as in a one pixel wide column of one or more pixels.Though a time period as generally presented above references a selectedpredetermined time period for representing a final completed HLC typesymbol or OHLC type symbol whether by default settings or by userselection, one can also implement the instant invention from the contextof having a variable time period as will be shown.

FIG. 26-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga price range symbol in accordance with the present invention. When anetwork access device 210 receives in step 2610 real-time market pricedata 225 a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, eachprice occurring at a different corresponding time and determine from theprice stream in step 2615 an open price occurring at an initial time anda last price occurring at a last time, the (v variable) time periodextending from the initial time to the last time. As each new price orprice change is processed and current enhanced OHLC data is calculatedand updated so to does the variable time period increment and getsuccessively longer in duration based on the last time of the lastprice. This variable time period can also be a variable intra-timeperiod within a longer fixed predetermined time period. A highest priceoccurring at a first time within the time period and a lowest priceoccurring at a second time within the time period can then be determinedin step 2620 from the price stream and generate, by a charting engine instep 2625, a symbol based on the open price, the last price, the highestprice, and the lowest price. The charting engine can then display instep 2630, the symbol, which includes a first indicator indicating thefirst time corresponding to the highest price and a second indicatorindicating the second time corresponding to the lowest price.

FIG. 26-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga candlestick in accordance with the present invention. After a highestprice occurring at a first time within the time period and a lowestprice occurring at a second time within the time period is determined(2620) from the price stream, a candle body can be generated in step2650 from the open price and the last price where a height of the candlebody indicates a difference between the open price and the last price,and a width of the candle body indicates a difference between the lasttime and the initial time. An upper wick and a lower wick can then begenerated in step 2655 based on the open price, the last price, thehighest price, and the lowest price. The charting engine can thendisplay in step 2660 the candlestick, which includes the candle body,the upper wick, and the lower wick, where the upper wick extends from anupper surface of the candle body at a first point corresponding to thefirst time and the lower wick extends from a lower surface of the candlebody at a second point corresponding to the second time.

Though certain examples above present how an upper wick and lower wickare generated and displayed. It can be the case at times when only theupper wick is drawn (e.g., when the open price equals the lowest price)or when only the lower wick is drawn (e.g. when the open price equalsthe highest price) or in rare cases when no wicks are drawn (e.g. theopen price equals the lowest price and the close price equals thehighest price). The invention is not dependent on either or both wicksbeing drawn. In the case of no wicks (when prices do nothing but go upover time), the candle body would rise in height but also widen relativeto the last time with respect to the current time period. The inventionis about the spatiotemporal relationships to the highest price and thetime of the highest price, the lowest price and the time of the lowestprice, and the last price and the time of the last price. In the case atthe end of the period when the last price equals the close price thenthe relationship extends to the close price and the time of the closeprice. These relationships can also be in relationship to the open priceat the start of the time period though the invention is not dependentupon the open price.

FIG. 27-A is an illustration of an enhanced candlestick including aplurality of upper and lower wicks that can be generated in accordancewith the present invention. A candlestick is shown having a candle body2703 with a plurality of upper wicks (2705, 2707, 2709) projectingupward from a first set of connection points connecting to the topsurface of the candle body 2703 and a plurality of lower wicks (2713,2715, 2717) projecting downward from a second set of connection pointsconnecting to the bottom surface of the candle body 2703. The highestprice is represented as the highest upper wick 2705, the second-mosthighest price is represented as the second-most upper wick 2707, and thethird-most highest price is represented as the third-most upper wick2709. In turn, the lowest price is represented as the lowest lower wick2713, the second-least lowest price is represented as the second-leastlower wick 2715, and the third-least lowest price is represented as thethird-least lower wick 2717.

FIG. 27-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick including a second upper wick and secondlower wick in accordance with the present invention. When a networkaccess device 210 receives in step 2720 real-time market price data 225a device processor 315 in operative communication with a charting engine340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, each price occurringat a different corresponding time and determine from the price streamthe highest price at a first time, the lowest at a second time, thesecond highest price at a third time, the second lowest price at afourth time, and a last (traded) price at a fifth time, it is thendetermined in step 2725 whether the last price is greater than the openprice. When it is determined that the last price is greater than theopen price then a candle body with a plurality of upper and lower wickscan be generated in step 2730 with a first upper wick that indicates adifference between the highest price and the last price, a first lowerwick that indicates a difference between the last price and the openprice, a second upper wick that indicates a difference between thesecond-most highest price and the last price, and a second lower wickthat indicates a difference between the second-least lowest price andopen price. When it is determined that the last price is not greaterthan the open price then a candle body with a plurality of upper andlower wicks can be generated in step 2735 with a first upper wick thatindicates a difference between the highest price and the open price, afirst lower wick that indicates a difference between the lowest priceand the last price, a second upper wick that indicates a differencebetween the second-most highest price and the open price, and a secondlower wick that indicates a difference between the second-least lowestprice and last price.

The charting engine can then display in step 2740, a candlestick typesymbol which includes the candle body, the plurality of the upper wicks,and the plurality of lower wicks. It will be appreciated that similarmethods can be applied to displaying a third upper wick of a third-mosthighest price and a third lower wick of a third-least lowest price, andso on through to a Nth upper wick of a Nth-most highest price and a Nthlower wick of a Nth-least lowest price. For instance, the presentinvention can also include determining an Nth-most highest price at anNth highest time and an Nth-least lowest price at an Nth lowest time anddisplaying an Nth-most upper wick corresponding to the Nth highest timealong with the plurality of upper wicks and displaying an Nth-leastlower wick corresponding to the Nth lowest time along with the pluralityof lower wicks.

FIG. 27-C is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick including a plurality of upper wicks andlower wicks in accordance with the present invention. When a networkaccess device 210 receives in step 2750 real-time market price data 225a device processor 315 in operative communication with a charting engine340 such as OHLC (open, high, low, close) data for each intra-timeperiod of the plurality of intra-time periods, a charting engine canthen generate in step 2755, a candle body from an open price of a firstintra-time period to a close price of a last intra-time period of theplurality of intra-time periods, based on the received OHLC data. Allupper wick intra-time periods from which intra-time periods of theplurality of intra-time periods have an intra-time high price greaterthan the open price of the first intra-time period and greater than theclose price of the last intra-time period can be determined in step 2760and further determine in step 2765 all lower wick intra-time periodsfrom which intra-time periods of the plurality of intra-time periodshave an intra-time low price lower than the open price of the firstintra-time period and lower than the close price of the last intra-timeperiod. A charting engine can then generate in step 2770, an upper wickfor each upper wick intra-time period and a lower wick for each lowerwick intra-time period, a bottom of each upper wick being connected to atop of the candle body within each upper wick intra-time period, and atop of each lower wick being connected to a bottom of the candle bodywithin each lower wick intra-time period and then display in step 2775,the candlestick including the candle body and at least one of thegenerated upper wicks and the generated lower wicks.

FIG. 28 is a diagram depicting an exemplary configuration settingsinterface in accordance with the present invention. A user modifiableconfiguration settings interface 335 can include settings for the userto select that control whether the current symbol width 2820 ismagnified and whether the prior symbol(s) width 2825 are magnified. Auser can further select (not shown) how many prior symbols to magnify.User selection can also further control whether an end of time perioddemarcation indicator 2830 is displayed and whether to display multiplehigh and low indicators 2835 (e.g., upper wicks and lower wicks, seeFIG. 27-A). Further settings can include a symbol rendering method 2840for a user to select from a plurality of OHLC type symbols and HLC typesymbols such as candlesticks, cross sticks, HLC bars, quadrilaterals,triangles, contiguous lines, right angles, and dots in which to renderand display a price range during a given time period as well as a timeperiod 2845 for a user to select from a plurality of time periods. Theuser can also select from a plurality of intra-time period resolutionvalues 2850. This becomes critical when applying the instant inventiontoward historical HLC or OHLC type data. For chart libraries that do notreceive enhanced OHLC data directly to access upper and lower wickposition values, can still be adapted to generate enhanced HLC or OHLCtype symbols with the selected intra-time period resolution value 2850.For example, when a user selects a one-minute time period for eachsymbol as well as select the number sixty as the intra-time periodresolution value, these parameters can be used to instruct the chartingengine to fetch sixty time slices of OHLC data that are one second eachwhich allows the engine to render a single one minute candle that is acomposite of what typically would have been sixty candles with a onesecond time period.

The symbol rendering method are sets of instructions in the chartlibrary to draw the newly discovered price range symbols which have beenpresented throughout the instant invention. For instance, cross sticksis a label for the price range symbol (1920), HLC bars is a label forthe price range symbols (1100, 1200), quadrilateral is a label for theprice range symbol (2220), triangle is a label for the price rangesymbol (2230), contiguous lines is a label for the price range symbols(1930, 2240), right angles is a label for the price range symbol (1160),and dots is a label for the price range symbols (2250, 2260).

FIG. 29-A is an illustration of an end of time period demarcationindicator in accordance with the present invention. By revisiting row660 of FIG. 6, which shows the progression of each intra-time period(630, 635, 640, 645, 650) where the width of the candlestick widens aswide as the width of the current and prior intra-time periods during theentire time period, an end of time period demarcation indicator 2910 isdrawn adjacent to the current partial OHLC type symbol or also known asan OHLL type symbol that is being updated and redrawn. The demarcationindicator 2910 serves as a reference point to the user, to visually gaina sense of what portion of the current time period has lapsed and howmuch time in the current time period remains. So as the OHLL type symbolwidens, the symbol gets closer and closer to the demarcation indicator.The OHLL type symbol transforms into a final historical completed OHLCtype symbol when the last price is also the close price marking the endof the time period. The demarcation indicator 2910 can then be erasedwhich would further signal that the price range symbol is a completedOHLC type symbol and no longer a partial OHLC type symbol or rather OHLLtype symbol.

FIG. 29-B is an illustration of a price chart including price rangesymbols with a plurality of fixed widths in accordance with the presentinvention. There appears to be a trend of user growth in using a smartphone device to access a trading application for trading and monitoringassets via price charts. The trend of chart usage on smaller sizescreens can present an obstacle the number of symbols that can bedisplayed. For a trader, the constant redrawing of a current price rangesymbol of a current time period is the most visually informing,particularly for the type of trader known as a “trade what you see”trader. The instant invention solves the problem of limited screen size,by magnifying the width of the current price symbol 2920 when themagnify current symbol width 2820 has been selected. Though one coulduse a demarcation indicator (2910) as discussed above to have a visualsense where in the current time period, the current price symbol 2920has currently widened to based upon the last price at a last time, thedemarcation is not needed as the current price symbol 2920 can visuallybe compared to the prior most completed price range symbol when themagnify one or more prior symbols width (2825) has been selected. Forinstance, when symbols each have a thirty minute time period and one canvisually estimate that the magnified width of the current price rangesymbol is about one half of the magnified width of the prior price rangesymbol, one can estimate that roughly fifteen minutes of time havelapsed into the current time period. One can compare these magnifiedsymbols to a plurality of prior price range symbols 2930 that have nomagnification of their respective width. By using this approach to thedisplay of price charts can enable a user to see a longer span of timewhich becomes more important regarding the display on smaller sizedscreens.

FIG. 30-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a demarcation indicator in accordance with the presentinvention. When a network access device 210 receives in step 3010real-time market price data 225 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can process the stream offluctuating prices, each price occurring at a different correspondingtime and determine from the price stream the highest price at a firsttime, the lowest price at a second time, a last (traded) price at athird time, and the third time is before an end of the time period, thena demarcation indicator corresponding to a current HLL type symbol canbe generated in step 3015 by drawing a spatiotemporal relationshipbetween the highest price, the lowest price, and the last price inaccordance with a selected symbol rendering method (2840), where a widthof the HLL type symbol indicates a difference between the third time andan earlier of when the highest price occurred and when the lowest priceoccurred. The generated HLL type symbol can be displayed in step 3020 aswell as the display of the demarcation indicator adjacent to the rightof the generated HLL type symbol. The demarcation indicator ispositioned at the end time of the time period where a width between aright most surface of the HLL type symbol and the demarcation indicatoris a difference between the third time and the end of the time period.

FIG. 30-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a magnified width of a portion of a plurality of pricerange symbols in accordance with the present invention. When a networkaccess device 210 receives in step 3030 real-time market price data 225a device processor 315 in operative communication with a charting engine340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, each price occurringat a different corresponding time and determine from the price streamthe highest price at a first time, the lowest price at a second time, alast (traded) price at a third time, and the third time is before an endof the time period, then a first portion of the OHLC type symbols, whichhave a first fixed width corresponding to the prior time period alongwith a second portion of the OHLC type symbols, which have a secondfixed width corresponding to the prior time period, where the secondfixed width is wider than the first fixed width can be generated anddisplayed in step 3035. The current OHLL type symbol can then begenerated in step 3040 by drawing a spatiotemporal relationship betweenthe open price, the highest price, the lowest price, and the last pricein accordance with a selected symbol rendering method (2840), where aheight of the current OHLL symbol indicates a difference between thehighest price and the lowest price and a width of the current OHLLsymbol indicates a difference between the start of the current timeperiod and the third time, and a difference between the start of thecurrent time period and an end of the current time period is equal tothe second fixed width. The charting engine can then display in step3040 the generated current OHLL type symbol adjacent to the plurality ofdisplayed OHLC type symbols. It should be apparent that this can beapplied to any set of price range symbols such as HLC and HLL typesymbols as well.

FIG. 31-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingan OHLL type symbol in accordance with the present invention. When anetwork access device 210 receives in step 3110 real-time market pricedata 225 a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, eachprice occurring at a different corresponding time and determine from theprice stream the highest price at a first time, the lowest price at asecond time, a last (traded) price at a third time, and the third timeis before an end of the time period, an OHLL type symbol can then begenerated in step 3115 by drawing a spatiotemporal relationship betweenthe open price, highest price, the lowest price, and the last priceaccording to a selected symbol rendering method, where a height of theOHLL type symbol indicates a difference between the highest price andthe lowest price, a width of the OHLL type symbol Indicates a differencebetween the start of the time period and the third time a width betweenthe highest price and lowest price indicates a difference between thefirst time and the second time. The generated OHLL type symbol can bedisplayed in step 3120.

The present invention can include that a width between the highest priceand the last price indicates a difference between the first time and thethird time, and a width between the lowest price and the last priceindicates a difference between the second time and the third time wherethe spatiotemporal relationship is a spatiotemporal relationship betweenthe highest price, the lowest price, and the last price relative to afixed position of the open price.

The open price is a known static fixed point that marks the start of atime period or intratime period and is unchanging. An aspect of thepresent invention examines the relationship of the open price withrespect to the changing prices during a time period or intratime periodof the highest price, the lowest price, and the last price until a closeprice is determined marking the end of the time period or intratimeperiod.

As a time period progresses, received price changes that fluctuate canbe updated by redrawing an ever widening OHLL (open, high, low, last)type symbol. An OHLL type symbol is a partial or uncompleted OHLC typesymbol which remains so until a close price is determined transformingthe OHLL type symbol into a final OHLC type symbol at the end of thetime period. When a symbol is completed, it is considered the past andhistorical. OHLC data of that time period can be archived, stored inmemory, and appended to historical enhanced OHLC data and the pricechart can scroll all the completed OHLC type symbols to the left andmake room for drawing and updating a new current OHLL type symbol thatwidens as time progresses during the current time period.

The invention does not need to depend upon the open price. The drawingand updating of the ever changing spatiotemporal relationships between ahighest price, lowest price and last price of price fluctuations duringthe course of a time period is a root of the present teachings.Similarly, an HLL type symbol is a partial or uncompleted HLC typesymbol which remains so until a close price is determined transformingthe HLL type symbol into a final HLC type symbol. Upon such a completedsymbol, the price chart can scroll all completed HLC type symbols to theleft so that they become historical in the past and make room fordrawing and updating a new current HLL type symbol that widens as timeprogresses during the current time period.

Though the last price is generally known as the most recent sale priceor last traded price, regarding the instant invention, the last price isbroadened to further mean any price between and including a bid priceand an ask price. There are many stocks and options that have smallliquidity and very little sale activity. There can be relatively longerperiods of time between one sale price and the next, where the onlyprice data that is available would be the bid/ask prices. There are somecases when it would be useful to treat an average price between the bidprice and ask price the same as a last price, which can yield betterprice chart continuity. Such an average could be considered a proxy lastprice as a substitute and give a better sense as to approximate priceaction when no sales are taking place.

FIG. 31-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingan HLL type symbol in accordance with the present invention. When anetwork access device 210 receives in step 3130 real-time market pricedata 225 a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, eachprice occurring at a different corresponding time and determine from theprice stream the highest price at a first time and the lowest price at asecond time, a last price that occurred at a third time can be receivedin step 3135 where it is determined that the received last price islower than the highest price and higher than the lowest price and thethird time occurred before an end of the time period. In response todetermining that the received last price is lower than the highest priceand higher than the lowest price, the HLL type symbol can then begenerated in step 3140 by drawing a spatiotemporal relationship betweenthe highest price, the lowest price, and the last price in accordancewith a selected symbol rendering method, where a height of the HLL typesymbol indicates a difference between the highest price and the lowestprice, a width of the HLL type symbol indicates a difference between thethird time and an earlier of the first time and the second time, and awidth between the highest price and the lowest price indicates adifference between the first time and the second time. The generated HLLtype symbol can then be displayed in step 3145. The present inventioncan include that a width between the highest price and the last priceindicates a difference between the first time and the third time, and awidth between the lowest price and the last price indicates a differencebetween the second time and the third time.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generating aprice range symbol in accordance with the present invention. After anetwork access device 210 receives (step 3130) real-time market pricedata 225 a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can process the stream of fluctuating prices, eachprice occurring at a different corresponding time and determine from theprice stream the highest price at a first time and the lowest price at asecond time, a last price that occurred at a third time within the timeperiod can be received in step 3210. The last price can then be comparedin step 3215 to both the highest price and the lowest price. The highestprice can be updated with the last price in step 3220 and also updatethe highest price to correspond to the third time if the last price isgreater than or equal to the highest price and, in turn, the lowestprice can be updated with the last price and also update the lowestprice to correspond to the third time if the last price is less than orequal to the lowest price. A charting engine can then generate the HLLtype symbol in step 3225 by drawing a spatiotemporal relationshipbetween the highest price, the lowest price, and the last price inaccordance with a selected symbol rendering method, where a height ofthe HLL type symbol indicates a difference between the highest price andthe lowest price and a width of the HLL type symbol indicates adifference between the third time and an earlier of when the highestprice occurred and the lowest price occurred. The charting engine canthen display in step 3230, the generated HLL type symbol at a particularposition.

The present invention can include the time period as a first timeperiod, the first time period is an intra-time period within a secondtime period, and the second time period is longer in duration than thefirst time period and the changes in price are of a market-traded objectrepresentative of one of a physical asset, a digital asset, an assetpair, and a ratio between a plurality of different assets.

In cases, where the above method steps are repeated particularly whendynamically widening the width of a current price range symbol upon thecontinued stream of tick data or last sale data, the present inventioncan also include receiving a new last price corresponding to a new lasttime within the time period, wherein the new last time occurred laterthan the last time in the time period and the symbol is a prior symbol,comparing the new last price to the highest price and the lowest price,updating the highest price to be the new last price and updating thehighest price to correspond to the new last time, when the new lastprice is greater than or equal to the highest price, updating the lowestprice to be the new last price and updating the lowest price tocorrespond to the new last time, when the new last price is less than orequal to the lowest price, generating a new symbol based on the openprice, the highest price, the lowest price, and the new last price,erasing the prior symbol at the particular position, and displaying thenew symbol at the particular position, wherein a width of the new symbolis wider than a width of the previously displayed prior symbol.

The present invention can include determining that the last price is aclose price that occurred at an end time of the time period and thegenerated HLL type symbol is a HLC (high, low, close) type symbol, whenthe third time equals the end time of the time period or in determiningthat the last price is not a close price and the generated HLL typesymbol is a partial HLC type symbol and displaying a demarcationindicator positioned at an end time of the time period, when the thirdtime does not equal the end time of the time period.

The present invention can include determining, based on a result of thecomparing step, that the received last price is lower than the highestprice and higher than the lowest price, where a width in the HLL typesymbol between the highest price and the lowest price indicates adifference between the first time and the second time within the timeperiod, a width in the HLL type symbol between the highest price and thelast price indicates a difference between the first time and the thirdtime within the time period, and a width in the HLL type symbol betweenthe lowest price and the last price indicates a difference between thesecond time and the third time within the time period.

The present invention can include that the particular position at whichthe generated HLL type symbol is displayed is adjacent to a plurality ofHLC type symbols. The present invention can include that the time periodfor each HLC type symbol of the plurality of HLC type symbols is ofequal duration, a first portion of each of the HLC type symbols is drawnhaving a first fixed width corresponding to the time period, and thegenerated HLL type symbol and a second portion of the HLC type symbolsare drawn having a second fixed width corresponding to the time period,wherein the second fixed width is greater than the first fixed width.

The present invention can include that new HLL type symbol is displayedadjacent to one or more HLC type symbols where the time period isbetween a fraction of a second and decades and the selected symbolrendering method is selected from one of a triangle, HLC bars, dots, andcontiguous. The present invention can include generating HLC data inreal-time from streaming time/sales data and updating a data structurewith each new generated HLC data. In the case, of any OHLC or OHLL typeof price range symbols, the present invention can include that theselected symbol rendering method is selected from one of a candlestick,cross sticks, quadrilateral, dots, and contiguous.

The present invention can include that an open price occurred at a startof the time period and the HLL type symbol is a OHLL (open, high, low,last) type symbol, which is generated by drawing the spatiotemporalrelationship between the open price, the highest price, the lowestprice, and the last price in accordance with a selected symbol renderingmethod, wherein a height of the OHLL type symbol indicates a differencebetween the highest price and the lowest price, and a width of the OHLLtype symbol indicates a difference between the start of the time periodand the third time within the time period.

FIG. 33-A is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure used to generate a HLC or OHLC type symbol inaccordance with the present invention. When a network access device 210receives in step 3310 real-time market price data 225 a device processor315 in operative communication with a charting engine 340 can processthe stream of fluctuating prices, each price occurring at a differentcorresponding to a unique time within a time period and determine fromthe received plurality of the prices in step 3315, an open pricecorresponding to a start of the time period, a highest pricecorresponding to a first time within the time period, a lowest pricecorresponding to a second time within the time period, and a close pricecorresponding to an end of the time period. A highest symbol positionvalue indicating when the first time occurred between the start of thetime period and the end of the time period can be calculated in step3320 as well as a lowest symbol position value indicating when thesecond time occurred between the start of the time period and the end ofthe time period can be calculated in step 3325. The time period, theopen price, the highest price, the lowest price, the close price, thehighest symbol position value, and the lowest symbol position value canbe stored in step 3330 in association with one another in the datastructure on a non-transitory computer readable medium.

For example, when a candlestick is selected as the OHLC type symbol fromthe symbol rendering method 2840, the highest symbol position value canbe considered an upper wick position value, and the lowest symbolposition value considered as a lower wick position value. The presentinvention can further including generating the data structure inreal-time from time/sales data of a live open market streamed during thetime period as well as generate the HLC or OHLC type symbol from datastored in the data structure.

FIG. 33-B is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure used to generate a HLL or OHLL type symbol inaccordance with the present invention. When generating HLL or OHLL typesymbols instead of HLC or OHLC type symbols, the last price is usedinstead of the close price. After a network access device 210 receives(step 3310) real-time market price data 225 a device processor 315 inoperative communication with a charting engine 340 can process thestream of fluctuating prices, each price occurring at a differentcorresponding to a unique time within a time period and determine fromthe received plurality of the prices in step 3335, an open pricecorresponding to a start of the time period, a highest pricecorresponding to a first time within the time period, a lowest pricecorresponding to a second time within the time period, and a last pricecorresponding to a third time within the time period. A highest symbolposition value indicating when the first time occurred between the startof the time period and the end of the time period can then be calculated(step 3320).

FIG. 33-C is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed forcalculating a symbol partial-width value based upon when the last priceoccurred during a time period in accordance with the present invention.After a lowest symbol position value indicating when the second timeoccurred between the start of the time period and the end of the timeperiod is calculated (step 3325), a symbol partial-width valueindicating when the third time occurred between the start of the timeperiod and the end of the time period can be calculated in step 3340.The time period, the open price, the highest price, the lowest price,the last price, the highest symbol position value, the lowest symbolposition value, and the symbol partial-width value can then be stored instep 3345 in association with one another in the data structure on anon-transitory computer readable medium. The symbol partial-width valueforever widens upon each successive last price or price change and isused to accurately draw price range symbol width of a HLL or OHLL typesymbol, which can also be considered a partial or incomplete HLC or apartial or incomplete OHLC type symbol.

Similarly, when OHLL type symbol is a partial enhanced candlestick, thehighest symbol position value can be considered an upper wick positionvalue, the lowest symbol position value considered as a lower wickposition value, and the symbol partial-width value is a candle-bodypartial-width value. The present invention can also generate the HLL orOHLL type symbol from data stored in the data structure.

FIG. 33-D is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatinga data structure corresponding to a plurality of intra-time periods usedto generate a HLC or OHLC type symbol in accordance with the presentinvention. When a network access device 210 receives in step 3360real-time market price data 225 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 such as OHLC (open, high, low,close) data for each intra-time period of the plurality of intra-timeperiods, where each piece of the OHLC data corresponds to a uniqueintra-time period within a time period, it can then be determined instep 3365, from the received plurality of the OHLC data, an open pricecorresponding to a start of the time period, a highest pricecorresponding to a first intra-time period, a lowest price correspondingto a second intra-time period, and a close price corresponding to an endof the time period. A highest symbol position value indicating when thefirst intra-time period occurred between the start of the time periodand the end of the time period can be calculated in step 3370 as well asa lowest symbol position value indicating when the second intra-timeperiod occurred between the start of the time period and the end of thetime period can be calculated in step 3375. After which, the timeperiod, the open price, the highest price, the lowest price, the closeprice, the highest symbol position value, and the lowest symbol positionvalue can then be stored (step 3330) in association with one another inthe data structure on a non-transitory computer readable medium.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for an apparatusconfigured to generate normalization values indicative of a positionalrelationship in accordance with the present invention. An apparatus caninclude processing circuitry configured to receive, from a requestor,(3360) a request to obtain OHLC data representative of a time period andthen access, for each intra-time period of a plurality of intra-timeperiods in the time period, in step 3410 intra-time price data includingan intra-time open price, an intra-time high price, an intra-time lowprice, and an intra-time close price corresponding to the intra-timeperiod. It can then be determined in step 3415, from the accessedintra-time price data for the plurality of intra-time periods, an openprice, which is an intra-time open price of an initial intra-time periodof the plurality of intra-time periods and a close price, which is anintra-time close price of a last intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods. It can then be further determined in step 3420, fromthe intra-time high price of each of the plurality of intra-timeperiods, a highest price occurring within a first intra-time period ofthe plurality of intra-time periods and from the intra-time low price ofeach of the plurality of intra-time periods, a lowest price occurringwithin a second intra-time period of the plurality of intra-timeperiods.

A first normalization value indicative of a positional relationshipbetween the first intra-time period and the time period and a secondnormalization value indicative of a positional relationship between thesecond intra-time period and the time period can be generated in step3425. A response including the determined open price, the determinedhighest price, the determined lowest price, the determined close price,the generated first normalization value, and the generated secondnormalization value can then be sent in step 3430 to the requestor.

The plurality of intra-time periods in the time period is determinedfrom an intra-time period resolution value 2850 and the generated firstnormalization value can be used to render a highest HLC or OHLC typesymbol position and the generated second normalization value is used torender a lowest HLC or OHLC type symbol position. The data structurespresented above were already shown (see FIG. 8-B) where the high timepercentage 830 is similar to the highest position value or upper wickposition or the first generated normalization value and the low timepercentage 835 is similar to the lowest position value or lower wickposition or the second generated normalization value.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to acertain preferred aspect or aspects, it is obvious that equivalentalterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the artupon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexeddrawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by theabove described items referred to by numerals (components, assemblies,devices, compositions, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a“means”) used to describe such items are intended to correspond, unlessotherwise indicated, to any item which performs the specified functionof the described item (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), eventhough not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure whichperforms the function in the herein illustrated exemplary aspect oraspects of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of theinvention may have been described above with respect to only one ofseveral illustrated aspects, such feature may be combined with one ormore other features of the other aspects, as may be desired andadvantageous for any given or particular application.

The description herein with reference to the figures will be understoodto describe the present invention in sufficient detail to enable oneskilled in the art to utilize the present invention in a variety ofapplications and devices. It will be readily apparent that variouschanges and modifications could be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

I claim:
 1. A method for generating a data structure, the data structurebeing used to generate an HLC or OHLC type symbol, the methodcomprising: receiving a plurality of prices, each price corresponding toa unique time within a time period; determining, from the receivedplurality of the prices, an open price corresponding to a start of thetime period, a highest price corresponding to a first time within thetime period, a lowest price corresponding to a second time within thetime period, and a close price corresponding to an end of the timeperiod; calculating a highest symbol position value indicating when thefirst time occurred between the start of the time period and the end ofthe time period; calculating a lowest symbol position value indicatingwhen the second time occurred between the start of the time period andthe end of the time period; and storing the time period, the open price,the highest price, the lowest price, the close price, the highest symbolposition value, and the lowest symbol position value in association withone another in the data structure on a non-transitory computer readablemedium.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the OHLC type symbol is anenhanced candlestick, the highest symbol position value is an upper wickposition value, and the lowest symbol position value is a lower wickposition value.
 3. The method of claim 1, further including generatingthe data structure in real time from time/sales data of a live openmarket streamed during the time period.
 4. The method of claim 1,further including generating the HLC or OHLC type symbol from datastored in the data structure.
 5. A method for generating a datastructure, the data structure being used to generate an HLL or OHLL typesymbol, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of prices, eachprice corresponding to a unique time within a time period; determining,from the received plurality of the prices, an open price correspondingto a start of the time period, a highest price corresponding to a firsttime within the time period, a lowest price corresponding to a secondtime within the time period, and a last price corresponding to a thirdtime within the time period; calculating an highest symbol positionvalue indicating when the first time occurred between the start of thetime period and the end of the time period; calculating a lowest symbolposition value indicating when the second time occurred between thestart of the time period and the end of the time period; calculating asymbol partial-width value indicating when the third time occurredbetween the start of the time period and the end of the time period; andstoring the time period, the open price, the highest price, the lowestprice, the last price, the highest symbol position value, the lowestsymbol position value, and the symbol partial-width value in associationwith one another in the data structure on a non-transitory computerreadable medium.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the OHLL type symbolis an enhanced partial candlestick, the highest symbol position value isan upper wick position value, the lowest symbol position value is alower wick position value and the symbol partial-width value is acandle-body partial-width value.
 7. The method of claim 5, furtherincluding generating the data structure in real time from time/salesdata of a live open market streamed during the time period.
 8. Themethod of claim 5, further including generating the HLL or OHLL typesymbol from data stored in the data structure.
 9. A method forgenerating a data structure, the data structure being used to generatean HLC or OHLC type symbol, the method comprising: receiving a pluralityof OHLC data, each piece of the OHLC data corresponding to a uniqueintra-time period within a time period; determining, from the receivedplurality of the OHLC data, an open price corresponding to a start ofthe time period, a highest price corresponding to a first intra-timeperiod, a lowest price corresponding to a second intra-time period, anda close price corresponding to an end of the time period; calculating ahighest symbol position value indicating when the first intra-timeperiod occurred between the start of the time period and the end of thetime period; calculating a lowest symbol position value indicating whenthe second intra-time period occurred between the start of the timeperiod and the end of the time period; and storing the time period, theopen price, the highest price, the lowest price, the close price, thehighest symbol position value, and the lowest symbol position value inassociation with one another in the data structure on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the OHLCtype symbol is an enhanced candlestick, the highest symbol positionvalue is an upper wick position value, and the lowest symbol positionvalue is a lower wick position value.
 11. The method of claim 9, furtherincluding generating the data structure in real time from time/salesdata of a live open market streamed during the time period.
 12. Themethod of claim 9, further including generating the HLC or OHLC typesymbol from data stored in the data structure.
 13. An apparatuscomprising: processing circuitry configured to receive, from arequestor, a request to obtain OHLC data representative of a timeperiod; access, for each intra-time period of a plurality of intra-timeperiods in the time period, intra-time price data including anintra-time open price, an intra-time high price, an intra-time lowprice, and an intra-time close price corresponding to the intra-timeperiod; determine, from the accessed intra-time price data for theplurality of intra-time periods, an open price, which is an intra-timeopen price of an initial intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods and a close price, which is an intra-time close priceof a last intra-time period of the plurality of intra-time periods;determine, from the intra-time high price of each of the plurality ofintra-time periods, a highest price occurring within a first intra-timeperiod of the plurality of intra-time periods and from the intra-timelow price of each of the plurality of intra-time periods, a lowest priceoccurring within a second intra-time period of the plurality ofintra-time periods; generate a first normalization value indicative of apositional relationship between the first intra-time period and the timeperiod and a second normalization value indicative of a positionalrelationship between the second intra-time period and the time period;and send, to the requestor, a response including the determined openprice, the determined highest price, the determined lowest price, thedetermined close price, the generated first normalization value, and thegenerated second normalization value.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13,wherein the plurality of intra-time periods in the time period isdetermined from an intra-time period resolution value.
 15. The apparatusof claim 13, wherein the generated first normalization value is used torender a highest HLC or OHLC type symbol position and the generatedsecond normalization value is used to render a lowest HLC or OHLC typesymbol position.